US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to install signage that warns visitors of inaccurate historical information inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington.
The highly unusual move marks the 80-year-old Republican’s latest battle in his ideological war on American cultural institutions and monuments, some of which he has renamed for himself and renovated to his liking despite legal challenges.
The order issued on Friday calls on federal officials to “install temporary signage” on public walkways outside the building to “notify visitors that the Museum exhibits should be renovated” to reflect “accurate information regarding America’s history”.
It comes days after Anthea Hartig, historian and director of the National Museum of American History, testified before a US House subcommittee and faced harsh criticism from Republican lawmakers.
She highlighted how the museum’s displays include “the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence … Abraham Lincoln’s top hat from the night he was assassinated, the Greensboro lunch counter, the gowns of the first ladies” and more.
In Tuesday’s hearing, Republican congressman Tim Burchett said he felt the Smithsonian has “become infected by a woke ideology” to highlight American oppression.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury denounced that view, criticising the Trump administration’s broad crackdown on cultural and academic centres.
“This administration has launched an unprecedented effort to interfere in how American history is told, researched, interpreted, presented and taught, not just in the Smithsonian, but in our schools, in our institutes of higher education, and through and across the federal government,” Stansbury said.