Mission drift

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Thursday the 23rd of July.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It…curating America’s story.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill grilled leaders of the National Museum of American History this week…following a recent report on political activism in the museum.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has the story from Washington.

HARRISON WATTERS: Debating history is nothing new for Congress. Debating how the nation’s premiere taxpayer-funded museum frames U.S. history is less common.

BURCHETT: The Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiencies will come to order…

On Tuesday, the House Oversight DOGE subcommittee met to dig into a July 4th report from the White House Domestic Policy Council called Saving America’s Story. Republican Chairman Tim Burchett.

BURCHETT: The American story is the birth and growth of a great nation, founded on powerful ideals in which we aim to fully achieve. But in the museum's current telling, history is just an ongoing power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed.

The report looks at exhibits and messaging from museum leaders that, the Council says, seem to put activism ahead of recognizing what’s good about America.

Museum Director Anthea Hartig testified that the museum is committed to telling the American story…especially the complicated parts.

HARTIG: We use historical evidence, competing perspectives, and acknowledge enduring debates so that visitors can understand how we've wrestled with democracy and citizenship and liberty, and national identity.

Hartig became the museum’s first female director in 2019. Early on, she commissioned a new mission statement. The previous one stated a commitment to “explore the infinite richness and complexity of American history.” Matthew Spalding from Hillsdale College testified the new statement is overtly ideological.

SPALDING: Its new mission is “to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by exploring the complexity of our past.” As was noted, “American” and “history” are both gone, replaced by “our past,” and “understanding” is replaced by “empowerment.”

Republicans on the DOGE subcommittee asked Director Hartig how that mission has shown up in displays about immigration, LGBTQ identity, and abortion.

A 2020 exhibit called Girlhood (it’s complicated) aimed to show how girls have been on the front lines of social change throughout American history. South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace asked Hartig about elements of the exhibit.

MACE:: Is sexual imagery, provocative sexual imagery appropriate for kids, yes or no?

HARTIG: Ma’am, we strive to represent all Americans—

MACE: You strive to represent queer, pedophiles, indoctrination, grooming of kids at an American History museum?

In 2023 that exhibit traveled to museums around the country, ending last year.

Here’s Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert…asking about Hartig’s plans to commemorate America’s semiquincentennial.

BOEBERT: And okay, so the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, um, you said that, uh, that should be problematized...

HARTIG: Yes, I did. And when historians use that, it means to add new stories.

BOEBERT: What about when you use it different ways? Pardon me, ma'am. What about when you use it, Director?

HARTIG: When I use it, I mean to add new stories and think of new objects. to tell the American story in all its richness. in 17—

BOEBERT: But you're not going to include the babies that were killed. We can't think of those stories, those new stories, to, to share with the American people?

HARTIG: Ma'am, we are going to use the 2 million objects in our collection to tell the American story as fully as we can…

Texas Congressman Brandon Gill challenged a Smithsonian training guide called the MASS Action Toolkit…which points to politeness and objectivity as elements of white supremacy.

GILL: Are you promoting a white supremacy culture at the Smithsonian?

HARTIG: Am I promoting a what?

GILL: Ma’am is this a difficult question?

HARTIG: No, sir. i'm just thinking about the MASS Action Toolkit. We didn't develop it. But, um, back to your question. No, we're not promoting any ideology.

Hartig later admitted the Toolkit has been used for reference.

Democrats pushed back on the report and the Trump administration’s efforts to remove what it calls woke ideology from federal institutions. They brought up objections to personnel changes and the removal of pages from government websites in a sweep of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion content.

In a second hearing on Wednesday, Yale University Historian David Blight framed the White House’s actions as aligned with dangerous historical precedents.

BLIGHT: Where governments and states have tried to control history, what they are really doing is trying to control thought, free speech.

SEWELL: That sounds reminiscent of fascism.

BLIGHT: Well, you use that word. That's fine.

Hillsdale’s Matthew Spalding says asking the Smithsonian for a course correction to return to its founding principles is common sense.

SPALDING: A museum focused on claims of systemic oppression teaches national self loathing. Why should taxpayers subsidize a museum that teaches contempt for their country and reframes its past to serve ideological purposes?

The top Democrat on Tuesday’s panel, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, said she'll introduce a bill to shield the Smithsonian from what she calls executive interference. The White House has not yet recommended specific actions for future displays. But the July 4th report notes the museum receives more than one billion dollars in taxpayer funding annually. And Republicans say money like that comes with a duty to oversee how it's spent.

BURCHETT: The subcommittee stands adjourned.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.