_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Ahead of America’s 250th birthday next year, President Donald Trump has undertaken an aggressive campaign to root out anti-American biases and progressive ideologies from the Smithsonian museums and federal sites, replacing them with pro-American virtues and philosophies.
To that end, he has ordered Vice President JD Vance to identify exactly which ideas should be eliminated and has re-ordered the creation of a massive “Garden of American Heroes.”
_THE FACTS_
In March, President Trump signed an executive order targeting what he called a “divisive, race-centered ideology” rewriting US history.
The order highlights efforts to use museums and cultural sites to push anti-American narratives — like a Biden-era training at Independence Hall calling for dismantling “Western foundations.”
It also cites the National Museum of African American History’s claim that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are traits of “White culture.”
Trump says the goal is to restore the Smithsonian and similar federal sites as symbols of American greatness.
It empowers Vice President JD Vance, through his position on the Smithsonian Board, to root out “improper ideology” and cut funding to exhibits that attack shared American values.
The order also tells federal sites to remove from monuments content that insults Americans, past or present, and instead celebrate US progress.
Trump is reviving his plan for a “Garden of American Heroes”—250 statues for America’s 250th birthday. Biden scrapped the plan in 2021. Trump reinstated it in 2025.
_INSIGHTS_
America is unique among Western nations in that its national museums — the Smithsonian institutions, the largest museum complex in the world — are free for all: in total, nearly 17 million people traveled to a Smithsonian museum in 2024. Teachers and parents bring children to these exhibits, where the displays influence how future generations of Americans view their country. By targeting both large exhibits and even small details, like plaques, Trump appears to be sparing no effort to promote a positive view of American history.
As with other Trump actions, making these changes permanent would require congressional legislation explicitly banning the types of exhibitions and ideas the administration aims to eliminate. Without that, future presidents could reverse the orders, as Biden did with Trump’s statue garden.
