Smithsonian Executive Dodges Congressional Questions on Efforts To ‘Reshape’ History

The head of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Anthea Hartig, repeatedly avoided directly answering questions about the organization’s mission and tried to keep to reading written notes during a contentious House committee meeting on Tuesday.The Republican chairman of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, Congressman Tim Burchett, held the hearing to look at the Smithsonian and efforts to “reshape the past” after a White House Domestic Policy Council report released on July 4th claimed the museum is failing in its basic task of highlighting America’s heritage.The report cited pro-illegal alien activism shaping a flagship exhibit about America, an exhibit that states “Sometimes gender isn’t revealed at birth,” and an “Entertainment Nation” exhibit that put sexually suggestive material in front of children.“Our central finding is not that the Museum has simply added overlooked stories, corrected perceived errors, or broadened its historical scope. Rather, it is that Museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens,” reads the report.“Instead of promoting an accurate history of the United States that Americans can be proud of, the National Museum of American History has bent the knee to left-wing activists and allowed them to obscure the truth using their radical agenda,” Mr. Burchett said.Ms. Hartig said the White House report does not fairly characterize the full body of work at the museum. “And while I recognize there is always room for improvement, I also know the beauty, inspiration, and expertise that exists in our museum.Several Republicans questioned Mr. Hartig’s fidelity to American history by bringing up a comment she previously made that “loving America is complicated.”“I love my country unconditionally,” Ms. Hartig repeated each time she was asked about it.Ms. Hartig also would not answer Congresswoman Nancy Mace’s questions on what the definition of a woman or how many genders exist.Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado peppered Ms. Hartig with questions about abortion and whether the history of millions of aborted babies should be told at the museum.“I’m not at this hearing to discuss that,” Ms. Hartig repeatedly replied.When Congressman Brandon Gill of Texas repeatedly tried to get Ms. Hartig to answer yes or no on whether it was appropriate to sell “Latina Power” merchandise in the museum’s gift shop, she answered, “We strive to represent all Americans in our museums.”“When the rest of the world is having a hard time with disinformation, there’s enough negative things that are being said, you’d think the one institution that would be trumpeting the great and wonderful things that this country has done, especially when we’re celebrating the 250th anniversary of this country, would be to showcase that,” Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri said.A critic of the leadership at the Smithsonian, Heritage Foundation fellow Mike Gonzalez, also testified at the hearing and when asked by Congressman Brian Jack to describe some Smithsonian exhibits he found to be the most disturbing, Mr. Gonzalez cited an exhibit on Ben Franklin’s electrical experiments. Mr. Gonzalez said the exhibit questioned whether Franklin conducted texts on indentured servants or enslaved people without providing any evidence.“Why smear a founding father such as Ben Franklin by pondering such a really bizarre thing?” Mr. Gonzalez asked.Democrats on the committee defended the museum and claimed that Republicans only want their version of history to be considered.“There was a lot of conversation today about what do race, gender, identity, culture have to do with the American story. They are the American story,” Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury said, adding that Republicans are unfamiliar with the museums and cherry-picking a small portion of the entire collection. “If any of our colleagues actually stepped foot in these museums in the last few weeks or months, they would actually know what’s inside these museums.”

Smithsonian Executive Dodges Congressional Questions on Efforts To ‘Reshape’ History

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