Trump orders Smithsonian to post warnings about 'inaccurate' US history

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered his administration to install signs outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History directing visitors to what the White House describes as "accurate" information about the nation's past.

In March, Trump signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian's Board of Regents to eliminate what the administration described as "improper, divisive or anti-American ideology" from the institution's museums.

What we know

The order directs the Department of Interior to issue the warnings, and also to direct people about where they can find "accurate information regarding America's history". The order on Friday - titled Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution - accuses museum leadership of not doing enough to celebrate America's founders on the country's 250th anniversary of independence, which took place on 4 July.

It operates 21 museums in Washington, Virginia and New York. The executive order instructs the National Park Service, which maintains the sidewalks outside the museum, to place signs informing visitors about a White House report released July 4 that criticized the Smithsonian's portrayal of American history.

20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Because the Smithsonian operates independently of the executive branch, Trump cannot directly remove museum leadership or unilaterally change exhibits.

The details

Its museums offer free entry to some 15 to 30 million visitors each year. The institution receives roughly two-thirds of its approximately $1 billion annual budget through federal appropriations.Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report. Brittany Miller is a Fox News Digital breaking news writer and former Independent reporter who graduated from Syracuse University in 2023.

Reactions

An accompanying White House statement, external also accused the museum of veering "toward extreme political activism, rooted in Marxism, to divide, dispirit, and discourage Americans". "This EO is a clear political overreach, driven by an ideological agenda to rewrite American history," congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, ranking member of the House Administration Committee, wrote on X. The White House later criticized the National Museum of American History's "Entertainment Nation" exhibit, arguing displays about American pop culture framed the nation's history through an ideological lens rather than celebrating its achievements.