Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for programs with
'improper ideology'
[March 28, 2025]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his
intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an
executive order that targets funding for programs that advance “divisive
narratives” and “improper ideology," the latest step in a broadside
against culture he deems too liberal.
Trump claimed there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over
the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective
facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than
truth," adding that it casts the “founding principles” of the United
States in a “negative light.”
The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance,
who serves on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents, in charge
of overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of
the institution, including its museums, education and research centers,
and the National Zoo.
It marks the Republican president's latest salvo against cultural
pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out
of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump recently had himself
installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual
Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently
forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by
threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred
million dollars in federal funding.
The executive order also hints at the return of statues and monuments of
Confederate figures, many of which were taken down or replaced around
the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in
2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is detested
by Trump and other conservatives.
The order also calls for improvements to Independence Hall in
Philadelphia by July 4, 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Trump singled out the National Museum of African American History and
Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Women's History
Museum, which is in development, and the American Art Museum for
criticism.
[to top of second column]
|
People wait in line to enter the Smithsonian National Museum of
African American History and Cultural on the National Mall in
Washington, Mat 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
 “Museums in our Nation's capital
should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected
to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort
our shared history,” he said.
Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institution’s chief spokesperson,
said in an email late Thursday, “We have no comment for now.”
Under Trump’s order, Vance will also work with the White House
budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian
Institution isn’t spent on programs that “degrade shared American
values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or
ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.” Trump also
wants to ensure that the women’s history museum celebrates women and
not “recognize men as women in any respect.”
It also requires the interior secretary to reinstate monuments,
memorials, statues and similar properties that have been removed or
changed since Jan. 1, 2020, to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of
American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain
historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan
ideology.”
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education
and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National
Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in
Washington.
The institution was established by Congress with money from James
Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United
States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of
knowledge.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
