Smithsonian museum removes references to Trump’s two impeachments
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The label referencing his impeachments was introduced in 2021 to an exhibition about the American presidency at the Smithsonian.
PHOTO: ERIC LEE/NYTIMES
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in July removed a label referencing Mr Donald Trump’s two impeachments following pressure from the White House, The Washington Post has reported.
Mr Trump is the only American president to have been impeached twice
The label referencing his impeachments was introduced in 2021 to an exhibition about the American presidency at the Smithsonian, according to The Washington Post.
The removal of the label “came about as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director”, the Post wrote, citing a source not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
The exhibit has reverted to a 2008 label stating that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal”, referring to Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, the last of whom resigned in 1974 before he could be impeached.
The Smithsonian later said in a statement that “a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments”, the paper reported, without specifying when.
Since starting his second term in January, Mr Trump has moved to control major cultural institutions, slashing arts and humanities funding, and cutting the National Park Service’s budget.
In March, he signed an executive order to “restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness” and “remove improper ideology”.
The order accused the institution of having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centred ideology”, and argued that the shift has promoted narratives that portray American values as “inherently harmful and oppressive”.
In the order, Mr Trump instructed Vice-President J.D. Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian’s board, to coordinate with Congress to ban funding for exhibits or programmes that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race or promote ideologies inconsistent with federal law”.
He has also accused Washington’s John F. Kennedy Centre of being too “woke”, fired its board members and appointed himself chairman
