President Trump signs executive order targeting the Smithsonian

On March 27, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” This order has since gone into effect and will directly target the Smithsonian Institution, its museums and its education and research center for promoting “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” This EO will specifically target The National Museum of African American History and Culture, the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum, The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Zoo. 

The order will give Vice President JD Vance, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, oversight into determining what is considered “anti-American.” While this term, and many others, were thrown around excessively within the EO, there is currently no criteria into what will be considered “anti-American,” but here is what we currently know.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is specifically being singled out for “com[ing] under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” 

When asked about the terms “anti-American” and “race-centered ideology” being used to oppose The National Museum of African American History and Culture, UCO History professor, Marc Goulding, said that these terms are harmful to the history being shared and taught by the Smithsonian. 

Goulding also stated, “As someone who teaches American history… to say that recognizing that our country has struggled with racism, with xenophobia, and all of that, and then one recogniz[ing] that one is somehow being un-American because of it, well I think that’s ludicrous.”

Dr. Goulding holds a Ph.D. with a major concentration in African Diaspora and a minor concentration in U.S. history. Dr. Goulding put an emphasis on although something is not talked about, taught, recognized, etc., does not mean that it didn’t happen or that it isn’t happening. Many historians share the same view-point as Dr. Goulding. 

The belief that the history being delivered from the perspective of a marginalized community is discouraging to current and future generations that may have experienced oppression throughout their life-time living in America. 

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) was the next museum of the Smithsonian Institution to be singled out. The SAAM is not the only art institution that has been attacked by Trump. Last month, Trump became chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and made Vance a board member, after firing the long term president Deborah Rutter.

While the Kennedy Center didn’t face any insulting comments, the SAAM was said to be “divisive” and have the same “race-centered ideologies” as The National Museum of African American History and Culture. This is because of an exhibit titled “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture.” The exhibit is meant to examine “the role of sculptures in understanding and constructing the concept of race in the United States.” 

The concept that race is only a social construct due to several factors such as ethnicity and culture, and is not a biological reality, is widely accepted by science and scientists around the world, but not by the Trump Administration. 

Seemingly, Trump and his administration disagree with scientific reason and see race as a biological reality instead of a social construct.

While the Smithsonian Institution is under fire, the EO will also provide sufficient funding to Independence Hall to improve its infrastructure before July 4, 2026, which is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Finally, the EO will direct attention to restoring and reinstating pre-existing monuments, statues, memorials and markers that may have been removed or changed since January 1, 2020.