White House slams nation's most iconic museum for choosing woke 'activism' over Founding Fathers

By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: 05:02, 6 July 2026 | Updated: 05:24, 6 July 2026 The White House issued a scathing report that condemned the Smithsonian for choosing so-called woke activism over a retelling of American greatness. The 162-page report released on Saturday, entitled 'Saving America's Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage,' comes as President Donald Trump seeks to force changes at the world's largest museum institution. In March 2025, the president issued an executive order that targeted funding for programs that advance 'divisive narratives' and 'improper ideology,' as he sought to fight back against woke ideas. By last August, the White House ordered a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution, placing a large emphasis on ensuring 'alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.' The White House Domestic Policy Council included its findings in the report.  'The Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America´s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,' according to the report by the council, which is led by a former top Trump speechwriter. 'As this report shows, confirmed in the words of Museum leadership, this ideological capture has moved the Museum´s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country,' the authors continued. The report hinges on several key findings, including a lack of attention paid to the nation's founding fathers, educational materials on gender fluidity and a crusade against 'whiteness.'  The White House issued a scathing report on Saturday, condemning the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution The report took specific aim at the National Museum of American History (pictured) Among the exhibits the council had issues with is a statue of George Washington circa 1840 that includes a depiction of Hercules. The statue's accompanying text describes how the Greek hero is a symbol of 'the perceived courage of the American people.' That language, the council argues, 'refuses to affirm the exceptional courage of the American people.' The report also argues that visitors to the National Museum of American History 'will find no major exhibit dedicated to America's founding era, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, other founding fathers, the Constitutional Congress, the pilgrims, the Puritans or major moments of the American Revolution.' Instead, it claims, many of the nation's founders are represented chiefly in terms of their connection to slavery. It specifically criticizes an exhibition that closed in November, entitled 'The Electric Dr Franklin' for what it says was too heavy of an emphasis on Benjamin Franklin's connection to slavery, including his ownership of slaves, and not enough mention of his work as an abolitionist.  The report, which contains more than 30 pages of footnotes, also argues that an exhibition at the museum called 'Many Voices, One Nation' tries to 'convince visitors that illegal aliens are entitled to citizenship, voting rights and "belonging" in America.'  It further says the museum endorses illegal immigration and advocates in favor of transgender issues, while it focuses on Christianity as 'an instrument of conquest, exclusion or cultural erasure' rather than its 'constructive role' in 'shaping the nation and its freedoms.'  Among the exhibits the council had issues with is a statue of George Washington circa 1840 that includes a depiction of Hercules, which it says 'refuses to affirm the exceptional courage of the American people' Should museums focus on celebrating America's triumphs or confronting its complicated past? What's your view?The report takes particular aim at Anthea M. Hartig, the first woman to serve as director of National Museum of American History. The report notes that Hartig 'has explicitly stated that she sees history as a "prime tool of social justice" and one of her roles as connecting "research and scholarship to activism and advocacy. 'Hartig believes the museum profession has "to figure out" how "we're going to" "problematize" that "loving America is very complicated" and that objects in the museum's collection should be used to move attention away from an "Anglo-centric" focus on the American founding,' the report says. 'These are not the words of an objective historian, but rather those of an activist advancing an ideological agenda contrary to the Museum's founding purpose of fostering patriotism.' The council instead argues that the museum 'should document and share the achievements and failures of the Nation and the extraordinary men and women of every color and creed who shaped its course. 'It should tell the truth, including of the Nation's mistakes and injustices, but it should do so within a coherent account of a people striving, often imperfectly, but more often nobly, to live up to our founding principles of liberty and equality under a republic form of government. 'It should especially teach the history of an American nation that is worthy of affection and worth passing along to future generations.' But as it stands now, the report claims, 'it would benefit most Americans, especially parents bringing their children for a tour, if the Smithsonian's flagship history museum had a label at every entrance that reads: "Warning: The exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don't want you to love your country."' The report takes particular aim at Anthea M. Hartig, the first woman to serve as director of National Museum of American History But in a statement to the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, denied that its exhibits are partisan. 'For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,' the spokesperson said.   Lonnie Bunch III, the Smithsonian's current secretary, has also pushed back against the Trump administration's claims that it is giving into a woke ideology. He told CNN in May that the institution has maintained its autonomy even though it has 'given everything that's been asked' by the White House for review. The secretary has largely remained out of the spotlight in the months since, but recently helped curate an exhibition marking America's 250th anniversary - despite the White House's claims that the Smithsonian's leadership withheld information about America's founding. In the interview in May, Bunch asserted that the Trump administration played no part in his thinking or selections for the 'American Aspirations' exhibition at the Smithsonian castle for the nation's birthday. 'My goal is that history is driven by scholarship, not partisanship,' he said at the time. 'The Smithsonian does its own scholarship. It's always driven by that,' he added. 'We have always worked with different administrations, but it's always about what our scholarship tells us.'  Lonnie Bunch III, the Smithsonian's current secretary, has pushed back against the Trump administration's claims that it is giving into a woke ideology  In an unrelated interview that aired Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Bunch said 'the notion of being a more perfect union, not the perfect union, is really what motivates me.' 'I think what I want people to understand is that there is a responsibility to continue to make those aspirations available, accessible, meaningful to a whole range of people,' Bunch said.  'And that, in essence, America´s greatest strength, it´s not running away from its history, but it´s understanding how that history shaped us and continues to shape us.' It now remains unclear how Saturday's report will affect the museum institution moving forward.  But some 62 percent of the Smithsonian's annual $1 billion budget is derived from federal sources, including funds directly appropriated by Congress. The Trump administration proposed cutting its budget by about 12 percent in the 2026 fiscal year, but Congress has thus far maintained the institution's federal funding. Yet the new report notes that the president's executive order last year directs Vice President JD Vance to work with Congress' Office of Management and Budget to 'prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race or programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.' The report also comes as two vacancies remain on the Smithsonian's 17-member Board of Regents, which includes Democratic and Republican elected officials as well as nine civilians, after the terms of two trustees ended in March.  President Trump has yet to name their replacements - and the new report notes that he 'has a duty and obligation to seek reforms of the Smithsonian' without specifying what those may be. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the National Museum of American History for comment.  The comments below have not been moderated. 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