Institutions set to unveil blueprints for Trump era displays
The U.S. government, under President Donald Trump, has taken an unprecedented step in directly intervening in the narratives presented by major national museums, notably those of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 2025, President Trump publicly criticized Smithsonian museums for focusing on "how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was," and ordered White House lawyers to review all museum exhibitions. The administration demanded museums present history with a focus on "Success," "Brightness," and the nation's future, rejecting what it called "woke" narratives.
An executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History was issued, directing Vice President JD Vance and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to remove "improper ideology" from Smithsonian exhibitions. This led to a White House-led internal review of selected Smithsonian museums, focusing on eight flagship institutions, including the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Portrait Gallery.
The review targets museum content, public programming, curatorial practices, exhibition planning, and collections use. It includes demands for exhibit plans, wall texts, labels, and digital files to be submitted for scrutiny to ensure alignment with the administration's thematic directives.
This government intervention has provoked serious concern and criticism from major museum sector organizations. They warn this interference poses a "chilling effect" on museum independence and could amount to censorship, challenging the Smithsonian’s unique legal status as a trust instrumentality that is traditionally independent from executive branch mandates unless approved by its Board of Regents or Congress.
Historically, while museums federally funded or affiliated have often been arenas for political and cultural debates, the current scope of presidential control—especially demanding prior approval and curatorial change to exhibits—marks a significant escalation in direct government influence over museum narratives.
The following Smithsonian museums are under review:
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- National Museum of the American Indian
- National Museum of Natural History
- National Air and Space Museum
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- National Portrait Gallery
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
This intervention reflects a broader political effort to shape public history narratives in cultural institutions, especially ahead of the U.S. 250th anniversary celebrations, with an emphasis on projecting a unifying and optimistic national story rather than narratives centered on systemic injustices or critical historical assessments.
In conclusion, the history of presidential control over museum narratives includes traditional oversight via funding and policy influence, but the current 2025 measures under President Trump represent an unprecedented direct intervention, mandating internal museum reviews and content adjustments to align exhibitions with the administration's political framing of American history. This has generated both institutional resistance and concerns about censorship and academic freedom in museum spaces.
- The war-and-conflicts, policy-and-legislation, and crime-and-justice sections of general news outlets have reported extensively on the 2025 White House-led internal review of eight Smithsonian museums, overseen by Vice President JD Vance and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
- Politicians and museum sector organizations have debated fiercely over the implications of President Trump's war-and-conflicts, policy-and-legislation, and crime-and-justice-related move to intervene directly in the exhibitions of major national museums, such as the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- The executive order, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, mandating museums to present history with a focus on "Success" and "Brightness," and rejecting "woke" narratives, has polarized opinion within the war-and-conflicts, policy-and-justice, and crime-and-justice communities.
