Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is stepping down by the end of the year, capping a tenure marked by escalating conflict between the institution and the Trump administration. Bunch’s departure raises questions about the direction of the museums that house the nation’s most visited collections of American history and culture, and about who will shape how that story is told to future generations.
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“There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together,” Bunch said in a statement. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Trump administration officials have raised concerns about the Smithsonian museums in recent weeks.
In August, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley sent a letter saying federal agencies could not “continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership.”
The administration’s concerns came into focus in July, when a White House report charged that the National Museum of American History had become “subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.” Bunch pushed back in a memo to Smithsonian staffers, calling the report “not a fair characterization of the work.” Later that month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to post signage around the museum about the report’s findings.
In their August letter, Burgum and Haley argued that federal agencies could not “in good conscience” continue loaning artifacts, enabling procurement processes or making discretionary grants to the Smithsonian under its current leadership, citing more than $1 billion in annual congressional appropriations. They also suggested the institution may have committed “significant violations of federal antidiscrimination law,” alleging its culture may have created a hostile work environment and allocated opportunities and funding on the basis of race, ethnicity and other protected characteristics. Those allegations have not been adjudicated, and no formal enforcement action has been announced. The New York Times reported that Bunch said pressure did not drive his decision, though he acknowledged, “I have to be honest, it has been stressful.”
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, will appoint Bunch’s successor. Roberts praised Bunch for “his distinguished service for the past seven years in the Smithsonian’s top job,” adding that the Regents “have benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision and leadership.” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal that he hopes the next secretary “will not treat the Institution as a battleground for his culture wars,” but instead “takes seriously the mission of the national museum complex that he or she leads.”
How a nation tells its own history shapes how the next generation understands both its blessings and its failures. Scripture repeatedly commands the people of God to remember and to teach their children what He has done, and to do so truthfully rather than selectively. That same principle applies to civic memory. Christians have a stake in both halves of this debate: that America’s genuine achievements be told honestly, and that genuine wrongs not be airbrushed away. The Smithsonian’s future direction will help determine which version of our national story reaches millions of visitors each year, and that is worth praying over.
Let us pray for the Smithsonian’s leaders and regents as they select a new secretary, and for a truthful, honest telling of our nation’s history for generations to come.
How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.
(Excerpt from the Daily Signal. Photo Credit: Leonid Andronov / Canva).
