Government that the two cannot realistically be viewed as separate entities.”67 Nevertheless, the
Smithsonian ultimately reports to its Board and to Congress, is organizationally separate from
the executive branch, and is not subject to many laws designed strictly for executive branch
agencies.68 This is why, “[u]nlike most federal agencies, the Smithsonian is authorized to accept
gifts and to generate revenue outside of the federal appropriations process.”69
In light of its federal status and the fact that it receives over one billion dollars in federal funding
from the American taxpayer every year, the President has a duty and obligation to seek reforms
of the Smithsonian, and to urge the Chief Justice of the United States, as the Chancellor of the
Smithsonian, as well as the Vice President, as a Regent of the Smithsonian and as President of
the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, to take appropriate action to restore the integrity of the
National Museum of American History.
On March 27, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and
Sanity to American History,” which found that “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed
a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a
distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth” and reconstructing “our Nation’s
unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness” as “inherently
racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”70
2. The National Museum of American History’s Responsibility to Tell the American Story
The Smithsonian Institution in general, and the National Museum of American History in
particular, should be “a symbol of inspiration and American greatness—igniting the imagination
of young minds, honoring the richness of American history and innovation, and instilling pride in
the hearts of all Americans.”71 As NMAH noted in its 2018 Master Plan, a national museum of
American history should explore, celebrate, and tell the American national story.72
That story should be a basic consensus view that is not ideological or politicized, but presents the
facts of history—what actually happened—as accurately as possible with minimal present-day
bias.73 It should explain the circumstances and conditions that gave rise to thirteen self-governing
colonies in North America, how those colonies united to oppose British misrule, and came to
declare their independence and fight a war before forming a new nation. It should tell the story of
how the Founders, inspired largely by the Ancient Greek democracies and republican-era Rome,
undertook to create a new form of government that would reflect the will of the people,
constrained by civic virtue, the separation of powers, and checks and balances, and supported by
religion and morality. It should focus on what makes America distinctive—the ideas that define
the Nation, the key individuals that have shaped its course, and the great accomplishments and
progress America has made. It should explain the Nation’s guiding principles and institutional
form in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as America’s rise,
expansion, and growth as a continental nation.
It should tell the whole story of a nation, including the good and the bad, so Museum visitors can
understand the development that led our nation to where it is today. In doing so, it should tell a
story of a people driven to overcome injustice and live up to its promise—a story of imperfection
but also extraordinary accomplishment, of tragedies but also great triumphs, and hardship but
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