Visitors heading to The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington could soon be met by new warnings about the story the institution tells.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing that signage be installed to alert the public to what the order describes as inaccurate historical information inside the museum.
The highly unusual step is the latest escalation from the 80-year-old Republican in a broader ideological clash with American cultural institutions and monuments — including several he has renamed for himself and renovated to his liking despite legal challenges.
Under the directive, federal officials are instructed to “install temporary signage” on public walkways outside the building to “notify visitors that the Museum exhibits should be renovated” to reflect “accurate information regarding America’s history.”
The order arrives just days after Anthea Hartig, a historian who leads the National Museum of American History, appeared before a US House subcommittee, where Republican lawmakers sharply criticised the museum’s approach.
Last August Donald Trump slammed the Smithsonian for being ‘out of control’ and highlighting the horrors of slavery while showing ‘nothing about success’
In her testimony, Ms Hartig pointed to the breadth of the museum’s holdings, noting exhibits such as “the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence… Abraham Lincoln’s top hat from the night he was assassinated, the Greensboro lunch counter, the gowns of the first ladies” and more.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Republican congressman Tim Burchett said he believed the Smithsonian has “become infected by a woke ideology” that emphasises American oppression.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury pushed back, condemning that framing and warning of what she called sweeping government interference in cultural and academic life.
“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’
In justifying the new order, the president cited a 162-page White House report issued in March that accuses the Smithsonian of failing to properly highlight 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 while the White House report is being reviewed, “we unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum”.
The Smithsonian Institution, founded nearly two centuries ago, is one of Washington’s most prominent fixtures, with 21 museums largely devoted to US history and culture, as well as art.
Mr Trump fired the director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Kim Sajet in May 2025, describing her as “a highly partisan person”.
Last August he accused the Smithsonian of being “out of control” and faulted it for highlighting the horrors of slavery while showing “nothing about success”.
As part of other moves tied to what he has portrayed as a drive to renovate or rewrite history, Mr Trump also ordered a sweeping overhaul of Washington’s storied Kennedy Center and put his name on the building — a change that was undone in June after a court order required his name to be removed.
