President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Friday directing the installation of warning signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. The order instructs the National Park Service, which maintains the pavements around the museum, to place temporary signage informing visitors that exhibits contain “inaccurate information” and directing them to “locations and resources for accurate information regarding America’s history.” It also calls for a temporary exhibit to “correct” what the administration considers erroneous historical presentations.

The move is grounded in a 162-page White House report released on 4 July, which, according to the order, “demonstrates that the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum cannot be trusted to tell America’s story with honesty and gratitude.” The report, cited by multiple outlets, accuses museum leadership of viewing American history as a “prime tool” to advance social justice and the “radical transformation of our society.” It further claims that “white, male, and Christian Americans are regularly denigrated as the alleged embodiment of oppressive power structures.” The administration has repeatedly characterised the Smithsonian’s approach as infected by “woke ideology” and has sought to eliminate what it calls “divisive narratives” from federally supported cultural institutions.

Museum director Anthea Hartig defended the institution during congressional hearings this week, stating that the White House report “does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum.” She told lawmakers that the museum does not take sides in political debates and that examining difficult chapters of American history is not hostility toward the country. Because the Smithsonian operates as an independent federal trust instrumentality outside the executive branch, the president cannot directly alter exhibits or dismiss its leadership. The order therefore targets the National Park Service–controlled footpaths, a jurisdictional workaround that underscores the limits of executive authority over the museum complex, which receives roughly two-thirds of its annual budget from federal appropriations.

Viewed from Capitol Hill, the order deepens an ideological clash over national memory. Republican lawmakers, including Representative Mike Carey, have pressed Hartig on the museum’s removal of the phrase “American history” from its mission statement and her past remarks about moving beyond an “America-first mentality.” Democrats, such as Representative Melanie Stansbury, condemned the order as “a clear political overreach, driven by an ideological agenda to rewrite American history.” The signage directive follows a March 2025 executive order aimed at purging “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian and a separate administration-ordered revision of exhibits on slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia. The White House has indicated that the temporary signs will be installed on National Park Service walkways, though no timeline for their placement or for the promised corrective exhibit has been specified.