White House Report Saving America's Story Intensifies Pressure Campaign Against Smithsonian Exhibits

Smithsonian staff are directly targeted by this review. The White House is demanding the names, professional biographies, CVs, and contact information of curators and other staff who create and approve museum content. This level of personal scrutiny could have a chilling effect on how employees do their jobs, and the implicit threat of funding cuts tied to cooperation puts pressure on the entire workforce. Staff at eight specific Smithsonian museums are singled out by name.

The Smithsonian museums are among the most visited educational institutions in the country, welcoming millions of students on school trips and through online resources every year. If exhibit content is altered to present only a "positive view" of American history, students may receive a less complete picture of the past. Educational and interpretive materials used for learning could be shaped more by political direction than by scholarly research.

The National Museum of the American Indian is one of the eight museums specifically named in this review. The demand that exhibits convey a "positive view" of American history and portray the U.S. as a "force for good" could pressure the museum to downplay or soften its presentation of the displacement, treaty violations, and other harms experienced by Indigenous peoples. This directly threatens the integrity of a museum whose mission centers on telling Native stories authentically.