The fool who among other outbursts, claimed it was “just fact” that Mickey Mouse was based on racist minstrel show traditions, was Anthea Hartig NMAH’s director. She is fingered on the first page of the report, as it says that the

“…shift from history to activism is clearly documented in this report. Anthea Hartig, NMAH’s
director since 2019, has explicitly stated that she sees history as a “prime tool of social justice”
and one of her roles as connecting “research and scholarship to activism and advocacy.” Hartig
has also stated that “we work to reframe the traditional celebratory narrative of U.S. history for
visitors.”She claims to have had a personal head start “propped up as I was and I am by the
cushions of whiteness and the pillows of the bourgeoisie.”Hartig believes the museum
profession has “to figure out” how “we’re going to” “problematize” the “250th Anniversary of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, that “loving America is very
complicated,” and that objects in the Museum’s collection should be used to move attention
away from an “Anglo-centric” focus on the American Founding.These are not the words of an
objective historian, but rather those of an activist advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the Museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”

President Trump and Republicans cannot duck their own accountability for this silly anti-American being allowed to oversee the National Museum of American History: they were asleep at the switch when she was allowed to inflict her woke biases and those of other activists masquerading as museum professionals on “the nation’s attic.” The President eventually saw the light, and for that we should be thankful. Roger Kimball writes in part,

“Some observers are puzzled that President Trump should lavish so much attention on what is, after all, merely a cultural institution. He does so, I believe, because he understands that the ulterior motive of the Smithsonian Institution in its current incarnation is to rob us of our heroes. As I have put it elsewhere, Trump’s attention to institutions like the Smithsonian is part of his ambition to give America back its heroes. That is why he has overseen such meticulous criticism of the Smithsonian. Admonition, Montaigne observed, is one of the highest offices of friendship. Criticism takes time and effort to formulate and dispense. If he didn’t care, President Trump could, like Presidents before him, just pass by cultural institutions like the Smithsonian and our educational apparat. But he does care, which is why he devotes serious attention to improving them.”

The project to make certain that the Smithsonian is first and foremost dedicated to celebrating the United States’s amazing journey and accomplishments rather than intentionally evoking anger and shame is a crucial one. A self-indicting essay in the Washington Post assails the report for criticizing an NMAH exhibit panel that calls the American revolution “deeply imperfect.” That panel should be criticized, for it is deeply stupid.

In “1776,” John Adams is digging in over his insistence that the Declaration condemn slavery…excuse me, “human enslavement.” “Mark me, Franklin… if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us,” Adams says. Franklin replies,”That’s probably true, but we won’t hear a thing, we’ll be long gone. Besides, what would posterity think we were? Demi-gods? We’re men, no more no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. First things first, John. Independence; America. If we don’t secure that, what difference will the rest make?”

Bingo. The Revolution wasn’t “deeply imperfect,” it was miraculous, a triumph of idealism, courage and luck that made everything that followed possible. Our national museums should be making that point, vividly and unforgettably, not wallow in historical revisionism designed to undermine American confidence and pride.