Bold mine. Dag [lonnieb.jpg] On the Fourth of July, the White House released a 162-page report attacking the Smithsonian for how it tells the story of America: a "radical, activist ideology.” The museum’s secretary, in contrast, gave a measured and sobering response. As reported by The Hill and confirmed by CNN, the White House Domestic Policy Council published the document on the 250th anniversary of this country's founding. It accuses the leadership of the National Museum of American History of treating the American story "as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens." The findings it hangs this on include too little attention to the founders, educational materials on gender, and, in the report's words, a crusade against "whiteness.” Here is the thing the report leaves out. The Smithsonian is not the president's to command. Congress created it in 1846 as a trust, not an executive agency, and by long legal precedent it does not answer to White House directives or executive orders. Trump has been pressuring it for a year anyway, because the federal government funds two-thirds of its budget, and money is the lever he actually has. Lonnie Bunch is the historian who runs it, the first Black American to lead the Smithsonian in its 180-year history. He did not issue a careful non-response. He went on CNN and made the case for exactly the kind of history the report wants gone. "History is really about ambiguity, complexity, nuance, debate," he said. "In many ways, history is as much about today and tomorrow as it is about yesterday. And this is one of those moments to use yesterday to help shape today.” Consider what the report actually is. An administration that spent all week insisting it loves America more than anyone instructing a museum on which parts of America it is allowed to show the public. They called complexity divisive. A museum's job is to tell the whole story. Bunch just told them he intends to keep doing it. +++++++ Dag ----- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ACM History Committee 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View CA 94043 “History is a vast early warning system.” — Norman Cousins, American journalist (1915-1990). Join our Mailing List here: https://info.computerhistory.org/subscribe
