President Trump and his administration are attempting to manipulate the historical record of the United States and control historical interpretations of its past.

President Trump issued an executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” on 27 March 2025.

This executive order outlines a radical vision for federal government control of the historical narrative of the United States.

Trump wants to determine which historical subjects can receive federal funding for research and writing, effectively eliminating funding for topics that he dislikes. He aims to control historical curricula in middle schools and high schools, as well public history representations of history in historical museums and cultural programming.

Léa Bello reports on “Trump veut manipuler l’Histoire, voici comment,” in a video report for Le Monde (22 April 2025).

I agreed to an interview with Léa Bello about the current attacks on research and higher education in the United States.

“Le 27 mars 2025, Donald Trump signe un décret intitulé « Restaurer la vérité et le bon sens dans l’histoire américaine », qui s’attaque directement aux institutions culturelles américaines. En ligne de mire : les représentations de l’esclavage, de la ségrégation, du féminisme ou encore des inégalités raciales. L’administration Trump se réserve le droit de refuser certaines expositions et veillera à ce que sa vision soit respectée au sein de tous les musées et les monuments publics.
Ce texte s’inscrit dans une offensive plus large de l’administration Trump visant les lieux de culture et de savoir : musées, universités et écoles sont désormais sommés d’adopter un récit conforme à une vision dite « patriotique » de l’histoire américaine, au risque d’être sanctionnés.”

The Trump administration and the so-called DOGE team have launched a multi-pronged attack aimed at dismantling or drastically cutting historical and educational institutions such as the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Parks Service, United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and the Woodrow Wilson Institute. DOGE and Trump-appointed administrators have fired or laid off historians and humanities researchers in these and other federal agencies.

The Trump administration has suspended or cancelled numerous historical and humanities research grants issued by the IMLS and NEH. Current grants and scholarships sponsored by the Fulbright Program have been frozen.

The Trump administration is pressuring the Smithsonian Institution to remove or alter historical exhibitions and pedagogical materials in its museums. U.S. military academies and historical services have had their websites scrubbed of historical materials based on politicized agendas and keyword searches.

The Trump administration is targeting individual universities and threatening their academic freedom. Under direct pressure, Columbia University’s leadership initially agreed to Trump’s demands, but now seems in chaos. Harvard University is resisting Trump’s unlawful demands and has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the President Trump has stripped billions of dollars of grant funding from Harvard.

This week, over two hundred university and college presidents in the American Association of Colleges and Universities issued a strong statement condemning President Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional actions against academic research and higher education institutions.

Bello, Léa. “Trump veut manipuler l’Histoire, voici comment,” Le Monde (22 April 2025).

Trump, Donald J. “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” (27 March 2025). Available at the White House website.