Smithsonian Institute removes reference to Trump impeachment
NEW YORK—The Smithsonian Institution has removed from an exhibit a label on President Donald Trump’s two impeachments—a decision that comes amid White House pressure on cultural institutions to offer a more selective view of American history.
The reference to Trump’s impeachment cases had been added in September 2021 to the National Museum of American History’s exhibit on the US presidency—in a section called “Limits of Presidential Power.”
The section also covers materials on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
But on Friday, Smithsonian spokesperson Phillip Zimmerman said the section—including the Trump impeachment label—needed to be overhauled.
Founded in the 19th century, the Smithsonian oversees a network of cultural centers that includes the history museum, the Portrait Gallery, the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Gardens.
‘Reviewing legacy content’
Zimmerman said the decision to remove the label came after the museum was “reviewing our legacy content recently.”
He said the 2021 label was temporary, to begin with.
“It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time,” Zimmerman said in an email, adding that other topics in the “Limits of Presidential Power” section had not been updated since 2008.
“A large permanent gallery like The American Presidency that opened in 2000 requires a significant amount of time and funding to update and renew,” he said. “A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments.”
‘Updating displays’
In a statement that did not address the missing reference to Trump’s impeachments, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness.”
For too long, the Smithsonian has “highlighted divisive DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America,” he said.
Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice—in 2019, for pushing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden before he challenged and defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election; and in 2021 for “incitement of insurrection,” a reference to the Jan. 6 siege of the US Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to halt congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
The Democrat-led House voted each time for impeachment, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump on both occasions.
Soon after Trump’s first impeachment, the history museum issued a statement saying its curators “will determine which objects best represent these historic events for inclusion in the national collection.”
But since returning to office in January, Trump has cut funding, forced out officials and demanded changes across a range of Washington cultural institutions—including the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Response to Trump EO
In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” in which he claimed the Smithsonian was beholden to “a divisive, race-centered ideology.”
He has placed Vice President JD Vance in charge of efforts to ensure no funding goes to “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
Congressional Democrats issued a statement in April calling Trump’s order a “flagrant attempt to erase Black history.”
Last week, artist Amy Sherald—best known for her 2017 portrait of Michelle Obama commissioned by the Portrait Gallery—canceled a planned exhibit at the gallery after officials raised concerns over her painting “Trans Forming Liberty, 2024.”
Sherald depicted in that work a nonbinary transgender person posing as the Statue of Liberty.
