The Smithsonian Institution has quietly removed a reference to US President Donald Trump’s two impeachment proceedings from a key exhibit at the National Museum of American History. The decision comes as the White House exerts pressure to offer a more positive and selective view of American history.
The label referencing all Presidential impeachment proceedings was added in 2021 to the museum’s “American Presidency” exhibit under the section “Limits of Presidential Power.” It also addressed Trump’s unprecedented dual impeachments.
A Smithsonian spokesperson confirmed its removal, which comes as the new Trump administration has called for intensified efforts to reshape how federal cultural institutions portray American history.
Why were the impeachment exhibits removed?
Smithsonian spokesperson Phillip Zimmerman said Friday that the section, which includes materials on President Bill Clinton’s impeachment and the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation, needed to be overhauled. He said the decision came after the museum” reviewed our legacy content recently.”
“Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance,” Zimmerman said in an email.
He said that in September 2021, the museum installed a temporary label on content concerning Trump’s impeachment. “It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time,” he said. But the label remained in place.
“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.”
Did political pressure play a role?
While museum officials framed the decision as part of routine exhibit maintenance, the timing has raised eyebrows. Since his return to the Oval Office, Trump and his allies have called for efforts to eliminate what they describe as divisive or unpatriotic narratives.
In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” in which he alleged that the Smithsonian was beholden to “a divisive, race-centred ideology.”
He has placed Vice President JD Vance in charge of an effort to ensure no funding goes to “exhibits or programmes that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programmes or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
