Key Takeaways:
- Smithsonian museums were created to showcase American innovation, ingenuity, and greatness.
- About 30 years ago, the radical Left began hijacking the museums and rewriting American history to emphasize the nation’s flaws and mistakes.
- Visitors are being taught that the U.S. is inherently racist, sexist, and oppressive – and that the nation’s darkest historical events are the only ones that matter.
- Missing and erased from museum narratives are the greatness of America, free enterprise, and the lessons learned and the triumphs made in correcting our past mistakes.
- President Trump, through an executive order, is seeking to restore the lost sense of pride in American exceptionalism and greatness once taught in the Smithsonian museums.
Americans are being deceived if they go to the Smithsonian museums.
I know. Every year I visit. Every year it gets worse.
It used to be that if you wanted to learn about American ingenuity and greatness, you could go to a Smithsonian museum.
Not today.
Now if you go to a museum, you likely will be taught about America’s past misdeeds and sins.
It’s the story of America the radical Left wants you to hear.
It’s deception. It’s rewriting history. It’s brainwashing/indocrinization.
But President Trump wants to change that.
Here are 4 things you should know:
- The radical Left has hijacked the Smithsonian Institution and is using the museums to present America as a seedbed of oppression.
As far back as the 150th anniversary of the Smithsonian in 1996, the museums and exhibits had begun to preach the message that history has been an on-going chronicle of oppression.[1]
Ms. Bufkin laments that the Smithsonian Institution today portrays the U.S. not as “a land of innovation and courage,” but more like “a hellscape of oppression and crimes against humanity.”[2]
“For the past few decades,” she writes, “the leaders of these museums have been busily rewriting exhibits to dwell on America’s sins while muffling her greatest triumphs.”[3]
Here are a few examples…
In the National Museum of American History:
- Visitors are greeted with Pride flags and panels about systemic oppression.
- The scientific genius of Ben Franklin’s kite is tainted because he owned slaves.
- The “Entertainment Nation” exhibit presents the Lone Ranger as a metaphor for U.S. imperialism.
In the National Museum of Natural History:
- Displays about scientists who mapped the stars and conquered diseases are overshadowed by foreboding projections about global climate change.
- The theoretical consequences of man-made climate change are emphasized repeatedly as indisputable facts, as if the purpose is to cause panic and despair among kids.
In the Smithsonian American Art Museum:
- An exhibit declares that sculpture in America has been used to promote “scientific racism.”
- An exhibit called “The Shape of Power” tells visitors that race is a social construct used to create “systems of power and privilege.
In the National Archives:
- Security guards don’t want visitors to actually read the founding documents or look closely at the signers.
- They hurry visitors through, loudly reminding them to keep moving along – that they don’t need to bother with trying to see everything in the room.
Outside the rotunda, America’s sins in the aftermath of the founding are emphasized – including women and minorities being denied the right to vote.
- The Smithsonian museums should tell the complete American story, not just the dark side.
Every part of American history should be displayed and taught – the mistakes as well as the accomplishments.
Children and adults should leave the museums with an understanding of:
- How far the nation has come in correcting its past mistakes
- How America truly stands out as the freest and most progressive nation in the world
- How America prides itself on equal opportunity, fairness and the rule of law
But what’s happening today is that the museums are systematically making the nation’s darkest moments in history the only ones that matter.
They aren’t highlighting the lessons we’ve learned and the growth we’ve achieved as we’ve acted to correct past mistakes.
Instead, they are framing every achievement through the lens of oppression, and every innovation as tainted by America’s ugliness, greed and shameful legacy.
They want visitors – especially children – to believe that America is uniquely racist and violent – as if no other nation ever had slavery or inequality.
It’s indoctrination on steroids.
Instead of celebrating the progress and achievements of many outstanding and selfless men and women of all races throughout American history, the main message kids are being taught is that their country is flawed beyond repair.
- Smithsonian museums were created to showcase American ingenuity, not to be political soapboxes.
In 1846 James Smithson, a British scientist, left a $500,000 estate “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion among men.”[4]
Ellie Bufkin, Deputy Director of Communications at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, grew up in a Washington, DC suburb in the 1990s.
She writes about going to Smithsonian museums and feeling proud of American innovation and ingenuity as she saw artifacts and displays that reinforced what she was learning in school.[5]
- Making Smithsonian museums great again.
On March 27, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.[6]
One section of this E.O. addresses the ideologically-driven historical revisionism which has taken place in the 21 Smithsonian museums.
It states: “The Vice President, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., shall work to effectuate the policies of this order…”
In response, a letter was sent on August 12th to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
A review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibits will take place during the next 4 months, leading up to the 250th birthday of the United States.
The purpose of the review will not be to censor or to twist historical facts that are negative or difficult to deal with.
The purpose will be to ensure that the Smithsonian museums:
- Celebrate American exceptionalism
- Remove divisive or ideologically-partisan narratives
- Restore confidence in America’s shared cultural institutions and values
The museums that will be reviewed first are:
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of Natural History
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- National Museum of the American Indian
- National Air and Space Museum
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- National Portrait Gallery
- Hirshom Museum and Sculpture Garden
The next generation should get to know the real America through the Smithsonian’s impressive collections.
We should spare them from the politics and the rewritten history based on radical ideology.
What do you think? Email me at [email protected].
Action Items:
- Communicate with a White House representative that you agree with.
- Copy your congressman and senators.
- Become aware of how the left is infiltrated museums elsewhere as well
FAQs:
Q: What is the main argument of the article?
A: The article argues that the Smithsonian museums, once showcases of American innovation and greatness, have been increasingly used to promote a one-sided, negative portrayal of American history, influenced by radical leftist ideologies. It claims this shift distorts historical truth and undermines national pride.
Q: How has the content of Smithsonian exhibits changed over time?
A: According to the article, Smithsonian exhibits have shifted focus over the past 30 years to emphasize America’s flaws—such as racism, sexism, and oppression—while downplaying or ignoring its achievements, innovations, and progress.
Q: Can you give examples of exhibits that reflect this alleged shift?
A: Yes. The article cites pride flags and systemic oppression panels in the National Museum of American History, the emphasis on climate change over scientific discovery in the Natural History Museum, the claims of “scientific racism” in American sculpture in the Art Museum and restrictions on reading founding documents in the National Archives.
These are portrayed as examples of ideological revisionism.
Q: What concerns does the article raise about these changes?
A: It argues that such changes promote a distorted, negative image of America, indoctrinate children into seeing the U.S. as uniquely oppressive, undermine appreciation for American progress and exceptionalism and replace education with political messaging.
Q: What does the article say should be included in museum exhibits?
A: The article advocates for a balanced approach—acknowledging America’s past mistakes but also highlighting its historic achievements, lessons learned, and progress made, the ideals of liberty, innovation, and equal opportunity.
Q: Who is calling for change, and what action has been taken?
A: Former President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14253 in March 2025, calling for the restoration of historical accuracy and national pride in museums. A review of key Smithsonian museums is planned to ensure exhibits celebrate American exceptionalism and remove ideological bias.
Q: What is the goal of the executive order mentioned in the article?
A: The executive order seeks to celebrate American greatness, counteract ideological narratives, restore confidence in shared American values and ensure museums educate rather than politicize.
Q: Which museums are being reviewed first?
A: The review will initially cover the National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Museum of the American Indian, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Q: Does the article suggest censoring negative history?
A: No. The article claims the intent is not to erase or sanitize history but to provide a more complete picture that includes America’s achievements, not just its shortcomings.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and publisher of The Huey Alert and Direct Marketing Update. He is also the author of The Great Deception: 10 Shocking Dangers and the Blueprint for Rescuing the American Dream, exposing the lies of socialism and defending America’s founding principles. Craig appears on national media such as FOX, FOX Business, Newsmax and more. He also co-hosts The Huey Alert Podcast with his wife Shelly and helps business leaders, Christians, conservatives, libertarians, young people and more understand the intersection of faith, politics, and freedom.
[1] Lloyd Billingsley, https://spectator.org/reviewing-the-smithsonian/
[2] Ellie Bufkin, https://nypost.com/2025/08/22/opinion/good-for-trump-for-looking-to-make-the-smithsonian-great-again/
[3] Ibid.
[4] Lloyd Billingsley, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/10/13/institution-with-an-attitude/2405155f-c908-4b3c-9585-653a954459c8/
[5] Ellie Bufkin, op.cit.
[6] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/03/2025-05838/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history