Last May, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to restore "Truth and Sanity in American History." The order called on the federal government to challenge a "concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history" and "restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness."
In the months since, the Trump administration has successfully pressured the Smithsonian to do the very thing the order aimed to combat: rewrite American history. Last week, the National Portrait Gallery "removed a swath of text that mentioned President Donald Trump's two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection," The Washington Post reported. These materials were replaced by an updated portrait of Trump. On Wednesday, the institution turned over photographs of labels, placards, text, and additional materials on exhibits to the White House for review. This was in response to a December letter that threatened to withhold federal funds if the Smithsonian did not "submit extensive documentation for a sweeping content review" to weed out materials that the White House deemed to contain "improper ideology," according to the Post.
