US President Donald Trump has ordered warning signs to be placed outside The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, telling visitors that exhibits inside contain inaccurate accounts of the nation’s past.
The striking directive is the 80-year-old Republican’s latest escalation in a broader ideological fight with American cultural institutions and monuments, several of which he has renamed for himself or reshaped to suit his preferences despite legal challenges.
The executive order instructs federal officials to “install temporary signage” along public walkways outside the museum to alert visitors that its exhibits “should be renovated” so they reflect “accurate information regarding America’s history.”
The move follows testimony by Anthea Hartig, the historian who directs the National Museum of American History, before a US House subcommittee, where she came under sharp attack from Republican lawmakers.
Last August Donald Trump accused the Smithsonian of being “out of control” and said it focused on the horrors of slavery while showing “nothing about success”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Republican congressman Tim Burchett said he believed the Smithsonian had “become infected by a woke ideology” that centers narratives of American oppression.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury rejected that charge, condemning what she described as the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign against cultural and academic institutions.
“This administration has launched an unprecedented effort to interfere in how American history is told, researched, interpreted, presented, and taught – not just in the Smithsonian, but in our schools, in our institutes of higher education, and through and across the federal government,” Ms Stansbury said.
‘White, male and Christian’
The president’s order points to a 162-page White House report released in March, which accuses the Smithsonian of neglecting what it calls the “constructive role of Christian belief.”
“White, male, and Christian Americans are regularly denigrated as the alleged embodiment of oppressive power structures,” the report said.
Ms Hartig told lawmakers that although the White House report remains under review, “we unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum”.
The Smithsonian Institution, established nearly two centuries ago, is one of Washington’s defining institutions, with 21 museums devoted largely to US history, culture and art.
Mr Trump dismissed Kim Sajet, director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, in May 2025, describing her as “a highly partisan person”.
Last August, he attacked the Smithsonian as “out of control,” accusing it of emphasizing the brutality of slavery while displaying “nothing about success”.
In another effort to refashion prominent symbols of American history and culture, Mr Trump also ordered a sweeping overhaul of Washington’s Kennedy Center and put his name on the building, before a court order required its removal in June.
