OAN Staff Addie Davis
12:01 PM – Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III announced his retirement after the institution has faced months of criticism from the Trump administration over allegations of rewriting American history in favor of “radical ideology.”
Bunch, 73, became the 14th secretary of the institution and the first Black person to hold the position in 2019, though his service at the Smithsonian Institution spans nearly four decades.
“It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian,” he said in a Tuesday statement.
During his tenure, Bunch has had to address criticism from the current administration over the institution purportedly pushing “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
In March 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) targeting “anti-American Ideology” at the Smithsonian, claiming it has promoted the concept that American history is “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” Trump’s EO stated.
During a 2019 interview with the Smithsonian Magazine, Bunch stated that he wanted the institution to make “diversity and inclusion so central that it’s no longer talked about,” according to Fox News.
“We call ourselves the Great Convener but we’re really a great legitimizer. And I want the Smithsonian to legitimize important issues, whether it’s 1619 or climate change,” he said, referring to the controversial 1619 Project, which reframes American history based on the arrival of the first enslaved African-Americans in Virginia. “We help people think about what’s important, what they should debate, what they should embrace.”
In support of Trump’s order, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum sent a letter to the institution’s board of regents at the end of August asserting that the Smithsonian has veered from “presenting a coherent and accurate account of the American story and toward advancing an ideological agenda that seeks to transform both the Smithsonian and the country.”
“The ultimate effect of this radical ideology is to weaken our shared American identity, erase our heritage and condition the public to accept these attempts to weaponize our national institutions and traditions in support of a radical political agenda,” he wrote.
According to Burgum, Congress appropriates more than $1 billion to the Smithsonian every year, with other executive departments and agencies also providing support to the institute.
In May, Bunch asserted that the institution’s goals were driven by unbiased research and scholarship.
“My goal is that history is driven by scholarship not partisanship,” he told CNN. “The Smithsonian always does its own scholarship. It’s always driven by that. We have always worked with different administrations, but it’s always about what our scholarship tells us.”
In a Tuesday interview with NPR, Bunch said that his decision was not based on the president’s criticism, stating that it was time because he was, as he put it, “old as dirt.”
“The reality is that after 38 years, I’ve been able to accomplish so much, I’ve learned so much, I’ve built such great relationships, and now I want to make sure that I have time to write, to think, and really to bore my grandkids to death. And now’s the moment to do it,” he told the outlet.
In his letter to the Smithsonian staff, provided by The Washington Post, Bunch recognized the challenges faced during his tenure.
“For the past eight years, together, we navigated a worldwide pandemic, government shutdowns, political partisanship, transitions and uncertainty,” he said.
Bunch will be stepping down by the end of the year. The Smithsonian has not announced his replacement.
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