Historians say Trump executive order on Smithsonian Institution will ‘have consequences on the future'

Record ID: 1986626

  • Title: Historians say Trump executive order on Smithsonian Institution will ‘have consequences on the future'
  • Date: 29th March 2025
  • Summary: PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 28, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CENTENNIAL PROFESSOR, EMERITUS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CLAYBORNE CARSON, SAYING: “We have a struggle between people who are trying to gain a more accurate view of history and people who are trying to obscure it. I mean, it's, it's, it's interesting that, you know,
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Amy Rutenberg Clayborne Carson Donald Trump Republicans Smithsonian Smithsonian Institution art executive order history monuments museums
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003251328032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As he stood in front of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, with its distinctive shape inspired by African motifs, lifelong DC resident Earnest took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that seeks to restrict programming Trump deems anti-American at federally funding museums and cultural institutions.
    "This is a country of free speech," street vendor Earnest, who declined to give his last name, told Reuters. “This is a country of self-expression. We are a diverse country - made of all races, all cultures and they're trying to take it away.”
    Trump's order has spurred a debate amongst historians, politicians and everyday Americans over the meaning of patriotism and the ways in which American history is defined and used by cultural institutions.
    Singling out Smithsonian institutions on Thursday (March 27), Trump ordered the removal of what he called "improper ideology," instructing Vice President J.D. Vance to oversee the taking down of monuments and sculptures that perpetuate “divisive narratives that distort our shared history." Vance is a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s 17-member Board of Regents.
    The order offered such examples as a Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit titled "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture," which, according to the museum's web site "examines for the first time the ways in which sculpture has shaped and reflected attitudes and understandings about race in the United States."
    Smithsonian officials and spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
    Clayborne Carson, Professor of history, emeritus, at Stanford University, told Reuters Trump’s executive order is “tragic”.
    “As a historian… what we do is we try to understand the past,” Carson, an expert on Martin Luther King Jr, said. “And probably the worst crime against history is to remove evidence from the past.”
    Since taking office on January 20, the Trump administration has launched efforts to dismantle federal DEI initiatives that has led to the removal, sometimes briefly, of historical content about African Americans and other minorities from government websites, and intensified attacks on educational institutions. The administration has focused on museums, universities, and public schools that emphasize race, systemic inequities, and diverse cultural contributions.
    “Democracy is really hard….and so when we flatten it, when we remove people from it, and when we don't acknowledge that sometimes the United States and its people did not act in the best way, we are telling ourselves a false story about ourselves,” Iowa State University history professor Amy Rutenberg told Reuters.
    “That, I think, has consequences on the present, and it will have consequences on the future,” Rutenberg added.
    Tina van Pelt came to the National Mall, along which several Smithsonian institutions are located, with her child and friends, to see the cherry blossoms, which are in peak bloom. She said she had heard about Trump's executive order the night before and was shocked by it.
    "I would hate to see the quality of our exhibits go down due to an idea that it's unpatriotic to show the actual history of our country,” van Pelt said.
    (Production: Julio-Cesar Chavez, Alexandra Sarabia)
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