Trump orders Smithsonian signs warning of ‘inaccurate’ history
President Trump orders warning signs at the Smithsonian amid a dispute over how American history is presented.
Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III announced that he is stepping down from his role amid the White House’s escalating attacks on how the Smithsonian presents history.
Bunch, the Smithsonian’s first Black secretary, has led the prestigious institution that includes 21 museums and the National Zoo for seven years. A statement from the Smithsonian said Bunch will depart before the end of the year. He told multiple news outlets he intends to retire.
His departure comes as the Trump administration has ramped up attacks on the institution for presenting what it describes as a biased, “woke” view of American history that downplays the country’s greatest achievements while overemphasizing themes like racism and inequality – criticisms that have been blasted by historians as an attempt to whitewash the nation’s history.
In an interview with The New York Times, Bunch said it wasn’t the Trump administration that led him to step down. But he did acknowledge the role has been “stressful.”
“It was really just saying, now’s the time,” he told the outlet, adding: “I’m a fighter.”
“I have to be honest, it has been stressful,” he continued. “And at a certain point, I’d like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone.”
Bunch, 73, has earned a reputation as a historian unafraid of confronting some of the darkest period’s in U.S. history and an adept political operator who maintained strong bipartisan support during his tenure.
Bunch has served the Smithsonian Institution for 38 years and oversaw some of the Smithsonian’s most ambitious projects, including the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he founded.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who serves as the head of the Board of Regents, said Bunch “pursued excellence in the telling of our nation’s story” and the institution “benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision, and leadership.”
“We look forward to working with him in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition for his successor,” Roberts said in a statement.
President Donald Trump has previously praised Bunch for his enthusiasm for his role leading the nation’s flagship museum system.
“I am very, very proud of Lonnie Bunch,” he said in 2017 during remarks at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
But while he didn’t interfere with the Smithsonian during his first term, Trump has sought to remake the institution to his liking in his second term.
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Trump objected to what he called a concerted effort to downplay American successes, and to cast historical milestones and the nation’s founding principles “in a negative light.”
Then, in August 2025, the Trump administration launched a review of the Smithsonian beginning with eight of its most-visited and highest-profile museums. Federal officials also identified a series of exhibits and programs they said reflected ideological or divisive interpretations of American history.
Critics have argued that such efforts by the Trump administration are tantamount to whitewashing the sometimes-tragic history of the United States, and that all Americans deserve to know the full story.
Tensions reached a fever pitch in July, when the White House released a report accuses leaders of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History of embracing “extreme political activism” and using the nation’s flagship history museum to advance what the report describes as an ideological agenda.
The Organization of American Historians issued a scathing statement condemning the report as “part of an ongoing and multi-pronged assault by the Trump administration against accurate and evidence-based history in American public life.”
Contributing: Thao Nguyen