'An attempt to turn back the clock': Woke historians melt down over exposé of Smithsonian's ideological rot

The White House's Domestic Policy Council dropped a 162-page report on Independence Day titled "Saving America's Story" that exposes the radicalism infecting the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

The report highlighted various manifestations of "extreme political activism" under Director Anthea Hartig — from the NMAH's characterization of Mickey Mouse as a vestige of "blackface minstrelsy" to its propagation of a tool kit that characterizes objectivity and individualism as oppressive traits of "whiteness" — and concluded that the museum, under its current leadership, "cannot be trusted to tell America's story honestly."

'US history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent.'

The council's damning assessment has evidently ruffled feathers at the Smithsonian and elsewhere.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III sent an institution-wide letter on Tuesday pushing back against the evidence-based critique, claiming that the "report is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History."

In his letter, which was obtained by the Washington Post, Bunch claimed both that "the Smithsonian is the glue that holds the nation together" and that the Smithsonian team's "work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America's story."

Bunch thanked the activists who operate within his purview and wrote, "Every day, we are honored to tell America’s stories and hold that responsibility with the utmost regard, respect, and fidelity. We remain committed to fulfilling our mission for generations to come."

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Bunch sent his letter days after a spokesperson for the institution stated, "For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so."

Bunch and the Smithsonian spokesperson weren't alone in fretting over the White House's report.

The Organization of American Historians rejected the report, calling it "another example of executive branch overreach" and an attempt on the part of the Trump White House "to coerce Smithsonian leadership to shape its presentation of U.S. history so that it serves the administration's political agenda."

The OAH, which has over 6,000 members at universities and other institutional settings across the country, complained that the report "insists that history itself is essentially, for Americans, a special and providential story of triumph."

"Make no mistake: The report represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a time when U.S. history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent, U.S. military leaders who rarely lost a battle, and U.S. presidents who were single-handedly responsible for national greatness, all under the cover of 'anti-DEI' and 'anti-woke' crusading," the OAH continued.

The woke historians fear that orienting focus toward American exceptionalism would mean "women, workers, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and more, will not see themselves represented" at the NMAH and that "America's rich and diverse history will be reduced to shallow and simple-minded stories and tropes."

Marc Stein, the San Francisco-based homosexual activist and historian who currently serves as the OAH's president, told the New York Times, "Released on July 4, 2026, the 250th birthday of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the report is a declaration of independence from history."

Stein, an apparent critic of "child protection" initiatives and defender of "drag queen story hours," further claimed that the council's report "mischaracterizes and misrepresents the words of Anthea Hartig, who has consistently worked to educate and inform visitors to the museum with innovative exhibits and inspirational programs."

'Deeply concerning to see the Smithsonian embrace politicized history over historical truth.'

The report that has vexed Stein, his organization, Bunch, and others not only revealed Hartig to be a radical who regards history as a "prime tool of social justice," seeks to "get out of the 'America First' mentality" when telling history, and wanted to "problematize the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026," but also highlighted the LGBT, anti-white, and anti-Western agitprop pushed by her museum.

According to the report, the NMAH has in exhibits, frameworks, curricula, and/or documentation:

• Directed American teachers to tell students both that the "U.S. economy depends on an influx of migrants to augment the workforce in a number of industries" and that "there is no single American culture, language, or narrative";
• Identified perfectionism, a sense of urgency, the prioritization of quantity over quality, paternalism, "worship of the written word," either/or thinking, individualism, and objectivity as "characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations" and are "damaging to both people of color and to white people";
• Described Jared Jennings — the boy called "Jazz" whose genital mutilation was promoted on reality television — as someone who "always knew she 'was a girl trapped inside a boy's body'" and devoted an entire "A Girl's Life" display to discuss his "transgender" experience;
• Displayed a two-piece chrome and rubber crotch harness designed for sadomasochist sexual activity in a Stonewall exhibit;
• Lionized Angela Davis, a former Black Panther and recipient of the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize who was once accused of supplying weapons to a black supremacist who went on to murder Superior Court Judge Harold Haley and two inmates;
• Adopted a decidedly pro-abortion stance, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling and Hartig's declaration that "a future without federally protected reproductive health care rights is not informed, just, or compassionate";
• Hyped gun-control activism, particularly in its "Girlhood (It's Complicated)" exhibit, which featured a life-size poster of a "March for Our Lives" speaker;
• Suggested that America rests on stolen land;
• Slandered America's founders; and
• "Consistently denigrated and displaced whites, males, Christians, and Americans in educational materials and programming, failing to highlight how Christians and Christian principles also have contributed to America's founding and flourishing."

While liberal revisionists and other radicals clutched pearls over the report, conservatives were apparently happy to see the truth of the NMAH's ideological capture brought to light.

New York Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) tweeted, "Deeply concerning to see the Smithsonian embrace politicized history over historical truth. Woke does not belong in our taxpayer funded museums. Our history deserves to be told honestly, faithfully, & with the respect owed to the nation that changed the world."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrote, "Politicizing American history to weaponize it in service of leftist activism. Not surprised they did this, but good to see it getting exposed."

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced legislation last year that would codify President Donald Trump's "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" executive order in part by directing executive appointees to the Smithsonian Board of Regents "to remove improper ideology and divisive racial narratives from Smithsonian properties."