Trump signs EO 14253 directing Smithsonian to eliminate content on Black history, women's history, and gender identity

On March 27, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," directing the Vice President — through his seat on the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents — to eliminate content the order characterized as promoting "a divisive, race-centered ideology" from Smithsonian museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo. The EO specifically named the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, accusing them of content the administration deemed anti-American. It directed Cabinet officials to work with Congress to defund any Smithsonian programs that "divide Americans based on race" or acknowledge transgender identity, and separately ordered the Secretary of the Interior to reinstate statues and commemorative works removed from federal property in the preceding five years.

The Smithsonian Institution, established by Act of Congress in 1846, receives more than $1 billion in annual federal appropriations and operates its museums on federal land in Washington, D.C. Its 19 museums and galleries serve as the nation's primary publicly accessible repositories of American history, science, and culture. The order singled out specific content — exhibits about Black American experience, women's history, and transgender identity — for ideological review and removal, directing that government resources be withheld from programs that address race or acknowledge transgender people. The Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, which had opened to the public in 2020 after decades of Congressional advocacy, was among the named institutions.

EO 14253 assigned implementation authority to Vice President JD Vance by invoking his statutory role as a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents. The order instructed Vance to "seek to remove improper ideology" from Smithsonian properties and to "recommend to the President any additional actions necessary." The use of the Vice President's Board seat as the vehicle for content removal represented an assertion of executive influence over an institution Congress created as an independent trust fund entity rather than an executive agency.