J.D. Vance at the People's Convention at Huntington Place in Detroit, 16 June 2024 Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Flickr
Four members of the US House of Representatives have sent a letter to J.D. Vance, imploring the vice-president to reject President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul the Smithsonian Institution. “We write to you as shared custodians of one of the nation’s crown jewels,” they wrote in the letter, dated 17 April, “and with great concern over its future.”
The undersigned congresspeople—Joseph Morelle (of New York), Terri Sewell (Alabama), Norma Torres (California) and Julie Johnson (Texas)—are the four Democratic Party members of the Committee on House Administration. Among other duties, the committee has jurisdiction over entities like the Library of Congress, United States Botanic Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. It also oversees the Capitol’s art, books and manuscript collections.
The letter begins with a call for bipartisan co-operation, though not one of the eight Republican members of the committee signed it. It goes on to list the bipartisan achievements of making possible new Smithsonian museums like the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum and National Museum of the American Latino.
“These efforts represent the Smithsonian at its best: bringing together ideologically and geographically diverse Americans of many backgrounds to learn about our shared national story and build the nation’s collective memory—reflecting and embracing the more than 345 million people who call themselves Americans,” they write. “Unfortunately, we now stand at the brink of seeing the Smithsonian at its worst: shaped solely by the views and ideology of one individual as a means of expanding his political power.”
Trump’s 27 March executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” directed Vance to oversee the Smithsonian’s programming, purging it of “improper partisan ideology” and “divisive, race-centred ideology”. (Vance is a member of the Smithsonian’s board of regents.)
In their letter, the congresspeople call Trump’s rhetoric “absurd”. They also defend his “primary target”, the NMAAHC, as ”the gold standard of history museums”. They write: “This flagrant attempt to erase Black history is unacceptable and must be stopped. The attempt to paper over elements of American history is both cowardly and unpatriotic.”
The letter goes on to call the Smithsonian Institution “the envy of cultural institutions across the planet—not because of ideological edicts or interference from politicians, but because of the world-renowned experts who independently curate the Smithsonian’s collections, programmes, exhibits and activities”.
In response, Vance’s press secretary told The New York Times in a statement: “President Trump is restoring patriotism and pride in American history to our greatest public museums and protecting taxpayers from having their money wasted on divisive ideologies.”
The shutdown dealt a blow to federally-funded museums, with disappointed visitors, furloughed staff, disrupted exhibitions and lost revenue that “can never be regained”
Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has affirmed in a memo to staff that the institution will “remain steadfast in our mission to bring history, science, education, research and the arts to all Americans”
A Trump executive order has led the largely government-funded institutions to roll back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
Vice President JD Vance will oversee the removal of “divisive, race-centered ideology” and deny funding to exhibitions that “degrade shared American values”
