The Smithsonian Institution has long claimed a special place in American life as a repository of the nation’s accomplishments and a source of inspiration for the world. Lonnie Bunch, who resigned this month as the Smithsonian’s 14th leader, shattered that vision, portraying American history as a narrative of oppression, rather than the exceptional story of liberty and triumph that it is.
Bunch departs in the face of President Trump’s effort to return the Smithsonian to its purpose. He leaves behind a team dedicated to using the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex to prosecute their war on American values under the construct of “curatorial independence.”
The Smithsonian is a trust instrumentality of the United States, sits on federal land, and receives more than 70% of its funding from the federal government. Most of its employees are federal civil servants, and it is governed by a 17-member board that consists of the chief justice, vice president, three members appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, three appointed by the speaker of the House, and nine nominated by its board and approved by Congress.
Like other federal employees, the Smithsonian’s professionals take an oath to “support and defend the Constitution.” They are charged with advancing the Smithsonian’s mission and the institutions to which they are assigned. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) opened in 1964 to instill in “each citizen a deepened faith in our country’s destiny as champion of individual dignity and enterprise” and “each foreign visitor admiration and respect for our ever-expanding social and technological horizons.”
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