Rep. Cloud: “The Smithsonian Has Lost Sight of America”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican Study Committee Member Michael Cloud (TX-27) is calling out the Smithsonian for drifting away from its mission of celebrating American history to embracing and promoting a Left-wing narrative in a new op-ed in Newsweek.

Rep. Cloud highlights how exhibits at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) are being changed to focus on contemporary partisan issues, such as race and identity, gender and sexuality, environmental change, immigration and migration, economic inequality, technological change, nationalism and globalism. He also condemns comments from Director Anthea Hartig urging curators to get out of the “America First” mindset. With American taxpayers funding the Smithsonian, Rep. Cloud encourages the institution to focus on preserving and celebrating American history instead of apologizing for it.

In the piece, Rep. Cloud writes, “As we moved toward America’s 250th anniversary, one could only imagine what celebration the museum might have in store. What artifacts they might pull out of their vast collection. What exhibits they would create to help tell the story of America’s remarkable and providential founding and rise to greatness. Instead, visitors were greeted front and center with a reimagined oppressor/oppressed narrative that describes our history foundation as “unsettling.” My visit told me everything I needed to know about where this institution’s loyalties lie, and the recent House Oversight hearing confirmed it.”

He continues, “The center’s own website says it ‘redresses exclusions in our national story using the principles of restorative justice.’ Elsewhere, museum staff studied materials on ‘white supremacy culture,’ while other Smithsonian resources described the nuclear family, the scientific method, the traditional work ethic, and linear concepts of time as aspects of ‘white culture.’ When a national museum treats the building blocks of civilization as political grievances, it has stopped serving the public and started lecturing them.”

Rep. Cloud concludes, “The National Museum of American History should be inspiring visitors, especially the younger generation, to serve and strengthen our country. History is undeniably complicated, and wrestling with our triumphs and our struggles is what makes historical education so valuable. We cannot teach our children to resent their own heritage and expect them to preserve it.”

Read the full op-ed here.