Smithsonian Museum of Natural History exhibit (Photo by J. Amill Santiago on Unsplash)
President Donald Trump has it in his sights on the Smithsonian museums across Washington D.C. — and historians are fighting back.
Writing for The New York Times Friday, David W. Blight, the past president of the Organization of American Historians, penned a column blasting the White House for the edits it seeks to American history. The president's White House Domestic Policy Council published a report that claims the legendary Smithsonian aims to "erase" American "heritage." It claims that the museum curators are somehow political activists assaulting American history with anti-white bias.
"The report is not a document about history; it is the product of a racial and political ideology in search of a history that no longer bears scrutiny," said Blight. "People often joke about how Trumpism would like to return us to some version of the 1950s, when America supposedly was 'great.' In this report, the administration has done just that. The report would prefer that nothing had ever happened since the ’50s to mar the White House’s polished, superficial, puerile version of America’s past.:
Founded in 1846, James Smithson gave a gift to the American people to create an “increase and diffusion of knowledge." It is now the world's largest museum, with 21 different locations and a research complex, supported overwhelmingly by donations from the public, the website says.
Trump is taking aim at the national history museum. When founders lobbied to create a location for a "unique history book of objects," the goal was to “instill in each citizen a deepened faith in our country’s destiny as champion of individual dignity and enterprise.”
Some of the most popular items on display include the American flag that "was still there" when Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star Spangled Banner" during the War of 1812, and the gowns worn by first ladies at the inauguration. Famous chef Julia Child's full kitchen is on display. Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" are there, as well as cars, trains and major objects from American democracy including Abraham Lincoln's top hat, Thomas Jefferson's portable writing desk and Susan B. Anthony's red shawl.
The Museum of American History boasts more than 1.7 million objects and 22,000 linear feet of archival documents, but Trump wants to change that. He wants a more "triumphalist history," Blight says.
The White House "cannot tolerate nuance, ambiguity, complexity. These elements of real history — dare we say truths about human experience — always spoil the party and the military flyovers. President Trump and his supporters have instincts for history, but far too little knowledge," he continues.
The column closes by calling on Americans to "hold the line" against "smiling propagandists."
"It is time, before it is too late, for Congress and the people to stand up to this attack on how we are to know and interpret our history. Defend the Smithsonian or lose it," says Blight.