WASHINGTON — A House Oversight panel is demanding answers from the National Museum of American History’s director over its “divisive” and “politically tendentious” exhibits on the country.
Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chairman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) is demanding NMAH Director Anthea Hartig testify on the museum’s “woke” exhibits next Tuesday.
The push comes in response to a scathing White House report last week that concluded the Smithsonian Institution’s leadership “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”
“As an organization that receives 62 percent of its funds from the federal government, the Smithsonian Institution should serve the American people, not promote an ideologically charged agenda,” Burchett wrote in a missive to Hartig obtained by The Post.
“Congress and the American people must understand why they should continue to fund and support the work of the NMAH in light of the content highlighted in the [Domestic Policy Council] DPC report, and of your own remarks, as the head of NMAH, concerning the purpose of public history.”
In its withering report, the DPC accused the iconic museum of treating traditional patriotic narratives “with suspicion” and downplaying the impact of the Founding Fathers.
It noted how Hartig, who has been in charge of NMAH since 2019, claimed the museum has worked “to reframe the traditional celebratory narrative of U.S. history for visitors” and characterized history as a “prime tool of social justice.”
“Hartig believes the museum profession has ‘to figure out’ how ‘we’re going to’ ‘problematize‘ the ‘250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026,’ [and] that ‘loving America is very complicated,” the report alleged.
The White House further blasted the museum for pushing exhibits that focus on identity politics.
“The DPC report details divisive, inappropriate, and factually inaccurate NMAH programming,” Burchett chided, “which, collectively, indicates the Museum’s leaders either lack an understanding of the Nation’s heritage or are determined to blatantly mischaracterize and disparage the American experiment.”
The DPC report came in response to an executive order from President Trump in March of last year, which directed his team to explore ways to combat “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” across the Smithsonian’s museums.
Some have speculated that the report and executive order might be a possible prelude to a takeover of the network that manages 21 museums.
The Post contacted the Smithsonian Institution for comment.
