NEED TO KNOW
After Donald Trump’s administration seized control of the Smithsonian Institution’s messaging in March, the iconic museum network has been accused of rewriting history.
On July 31, The Washington Post reported on the recent change to an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History titled “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.” A section of the display is dedicated to the U.S. presidents who have faced impeachment, and includes information about Andrew Jackson, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. (While Jackson and Clinton were successfully impeached, Nixon resigned the presidency before getting to that point.)
Since September 2021, the exhibit had featured a temporary label about Trump’s two impeachments along with a notice for visitors, which read “Case under redesign (history happens).”
The Post reports that the label was removed in July “as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director.” Without reference to Trump, the exhibit has now reverted back to suggesting that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”
A Smithsonian spokesperson told the Post that the Trump label was merely intended to be “a short-term addition to address current events.”
“In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the ‘Limits of Presidential Power’ section in ‘The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden’ exhibition needed to be addressed,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The section of this exhibition covers Congress, The Supreme Court, Impeachment, and Public Opinion. Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance.”
Kevin Carter/Getty
In January 2021, Trump became the first-ever U.S. president to be impeached twice. A bipartisan majority in the House impeached the president on one charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in encouraging his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol in what became the deadly Jan. 6 riots.
The House voted 232-197 in favor of his second impeachment, with 10 Republican representatives joining the Democratic-led effort.
Trump was previously impeached in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to a scandal in which the president allegedly withheld $400 million in military aid from Ukraine while also pushing the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to dig into his political opponent, Joe Biden.
Following the publication of The Washington Post’s story on the impeachment exhibit, the Smithsonian said in a statement that “a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments.”
Trump began his plans to reshape the Smithsonian with a March 27 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
In the order, Trump directed Vice President J.D. Vance — in his capacity as a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents — to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums, research centers and the National Zoo.
“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” the order claimed. “This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Trump’s order specifically called out the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the American Women’s History Museum for featuring exhibits aimed at “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.”
He also directed Vance and Russell Vought — a Project 2025 architect who now leads Trump’s Office of Management and Budget — to ensure that future funds directed at the Smithsonian “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
