“History is incredibly challenging,” the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History testified in the House, rebutting the Republican-led effort to reshape what the nation’s government-sponsored museums say about America.
For two hours Tuesday, Anthea Hartig faced a hostile panel of Republican lawmakers who cast the Smithsonian Institution as an “ideological” political organization and aired what they saw as perceived slights against the founding fathers, cultural icons and conservative ideas contained in the museum’s galleries.
Hartig pushed back, saying the museum “tries to reflect the richness of our history” without advancing any political agenda.
“If we tell it in its richness, we absolutely, I think, have objects that can make people uncomfortable,” Hartig said.
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She continued, “It’s not for me to determine what’s problematic, it’s for me to determine what’s accurate.”
Republicans during the hearing largely focused on specific exhibits and merchandise within the museum they found controversial, including a display centered on the U.S. entertainment industry and another on girls going through puberty. They grew increasingly frustrated throughout the hearing after accusing Hartig of deflecting from their most pointed questions.
“You have pictures of bondage,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), who chaired Tuesday’s Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee hearing, said before a poster board displaying some items and photographs featured in the museum. “You have some overtly sexual things up there. You have transgender folks, I assume that’s what they are.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-South Carolina), focused her questions more explicitly.
“My staff tells me this little trinket around the penis, this is BDSM in a setting where children are walking through,” she said. “That’s disgusting. Like, what kind of message are you trying to send to kids with BDSM imagery?”
Hartig said the puberty exhibit was not designed for children and contained a warning about its contents.
After the hearing, Burchett told NOTUS that Congress should withhold funds from the Smithsonian but speculated leadership is not “going to do a dadgum thing.” He added he would talk to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, composed of Vice President JD Vance, lawmakers from both parties and others, to voice his concerns.
Shortly after taking office last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at “restoring truth and sanity to American history” that prohibited Smithsonian exhibits that “divide Americans based on race.” In subsequent letters to the institution, the White House requested all descriptions and plans for current and upcoming exhibits to ensure compliance with new policies.
While the agency is only partially government funded, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought noted he could withhold funds if the Smithsonian did not comply with Trump’s order and document production requests.
On July 4, the White House issued a report finding the American history museum strayed from its mission and has become a “political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens.” It accused the museum of demonstrating activism toward “illegal aliens,” transgender individuals and against white Americans.
The Trump administration has also directed the National Park Service to remove signage and displays it deemed as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, though those efforts have been held up in ongoing legal disputes.
Hartig, who is set to testify again on Wednesday before the House Administration Committee, rejected the White House’s findings, arguing they contained several inaccuracies. She said she takes the White House’s concerns seriously, but noted the report erroneously suggested that several pieces of U.S. history were not on display, including passages from the Declaration of Independence, a uniform and writing desk belonging to George Washington and celebrations of the country’s 250th anniversary.
“We unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum,” Hartig said. “There is always room for improvement, but I also know the beauty and the inspiration and the expertise that lies in our collections, our exhibits and our programming.”
David Blight, a history professor at Yale University who also testified at the hearing, similarly castigated the White House for its report.
“The recent report by the White House Domestic Policy Council is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historian’s profession, as well as on the freedom and curiosity of anyone who reads,” Blight said. “In other words, President Trump has declared war on free minds and free education.”
Republicans, meanwhile, repeatedly criticized the museum for its exhibits on slavery, saying it should focus on efforts to abolish the practice rather than its horrors.
Democrats chided Republicans for holding the hearing, saying they were looking to erase key parts of U.S. history. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) called it a “white pride rally disguised as a congressional hearing.” Other Democrats questioned the majority’s intentions.
“I think what’s actually happening is not that you don’t want ideology in the museum,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia). “You want your ideology in the museum.”
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