President Trump has ordered a politicized rewriting of history at the national museums of the Smithsonian Institution.

Trump’s order initiates a new offensive in the ongoing War on History, which represents one front in a broader set of Culture Wars.

“The White House is planning an extensive review into the Smithsonian Institution to ensure that its exhibitions reflect the administration’s view of American history ahead of the country’s 250th birthday — a move that comes amid President Donald Trump’s broader takeover of the nation’s cultural institutions,” according to Politico.

This is the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure leaders of the Smithsonian Institution and to alter the historical narratives presented in its museums.

“In a letter sent to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch and subsequently posted on the White House website on Tuesday, three administration officials outlined areas subject to review and revision in an effort to ‘reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story,'” Politico reports.

“‘This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,’ senior associate staff secretary Lindsey Halligan, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought wrote in the letter.”

Politico reports that “The review aims to adjust not only the museums’ public exhibitions, planning and curation, but also narrative standards and collection use.

“The move is the latest in a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to overhaul how American history and culture is taught and presented in institutions across the country — from universities to museums to Washington’s Kennedy Center for the performing arts.”

David W. Blight, Professor of History (Yale University) and President of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), recently published a scathing criticism of the Trump administration’s assault on History.

Blight argues: “On March 27, President Donald Trump, echoing the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, issued an executive order, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.’ The White House now believes it should pronounce on the nature of history and the purpose and substance of the nation’s treasures at the Smithsonian Institution. The order is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historians’ profession, our training and integrity, as well as on the freedom and curiosity of anyone who reads or visits museums. In other words, Trump’s team has declared war on free minds and free education in order to erase more than a half-century of scholarship and replace it with official triumphal narratives rooted in a brand of pickled patriotism designed to force the past to serve the present.”

Blight’s essay is a call for mobilization of the entire historical profession to resist the Trumpist agenda to politicize historical narratives and deform the historical record.

Ewing, Giselle Ruhiyyih. “White House Announces Smithsonian Review Amid Trump’s Cultural Reckoning.” Politico (12 August 2025).

Blight, David W. “What if History Died by Sanctioned Ignorance?” The New Republic (7 August 2025).