UPDATE 7/9/2025: The Trump administration is calling for the review of an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The exhibition, which has been on view since 2022 and is titled Entertainment Nation, critiques and examines the entertainment industry and its influence on culture and social life by contextualizing works on view with relevant cultural and historical realities. Such realities include references to challenging parts of American history such as Jim Crow Era racism, American imperialism, Watergate, the Vietnam war, and more. Even though Smithsonian Institution exhibitions are curated by experts in history and culture, the Trump administration takes issue with any depictions of American culture as “violent, imperialist, or racist.” Its review of Entertainment Nation strongly communicates to the independent-but-federally-funded Smithsonian Institution that it is under observation, and that specific kinds of ideas on display are not welcome.
Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship expressed outrage at the Executive Order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order targets the programming of the Smithsonian Institution, which includes 21 libraries, 14 education and research centers, a zoo, and historical and architectural landmarks, and directs it to comply with the presidential administration’s sense of what constitutes “American Greatness.” The order also directs the Department of the Interior to review and eliminate any changes to National Park Service monuments, memorials, and materials, which were made after 2020 and that contribute to a “false reconstruction of American history.”
The order aims to establish a federally-sanctioned American history that is uncritical, nationalist, and pro-State, and constitutes a blatant instruction to censor nuanced and critical views of the nation’s past. In the face of these efforts to render the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service mere platforms for nationalist propaganda, NCAC calls upon the Smithsonian Institution’s governing Board of Regents—perhaps the only entity with power to resist this Order—to uphold the core American value of free expression. Freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to criticize the government, is a fundamental component of American democracy.
Read NCAC’s Full Statement here:
Click here for a full-screen view: