CBCF EXECUTIVE ORDER TRACKER
Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution Executive Order #14416 Date Issued: July 24, 2026 Topic: Civil Rights, Education
WHAT DOES THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER DO? This executive order directs the Secretary of the Interior, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to use any and all available authorities to encourage the Smithsonian Institution to adopt the corrections identified in a new White House report, including by identifying any available mechanisms involving funding and contract conditions. The order implements the findings of Saving America's Story, a 162-page report released on July 4, 2026, which concludes that the National Museum of American History (NMAH) has undergone what the administration calls “ideological capture.” The report frames the museum as having drifted from historical education into taxpayerfunded political activism. This executive order builds directly on Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which directed executive officials to pursue the removal of what the administration described as divisive, race-centered content across the Smithsonian's museums. This executive order directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the National Park Service (NPS), to install temporary signage on NPSmaintained sidewalks and walkways used to reach NMAH. The signage must inform visitors of the report's findings, state that the museum's exhibits should be renovated in accordance with those findings, and direct visitors to other sources that the administration considers accurate.
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WHAT DOES THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER DO? The executive order separately directs temporary exhibits or signage on NPS-maintained land to correct what the order calls inaccurate information in the museum, citing the museum's treatment of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during the nation's 250th anniversary year. This executive order states that it creates no legally enforceable rights, must be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to available appropriations, and assigns publication costs to the Department of the Interior.
HOW WILL THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER BE ENFORCED? The order sets no deadlines and identifies no compliance metrics. Implementation is discretionary and open-ended, resting on whatever authorities the four named officials can locate. The signage requirements are the only part of the order that takes effect on its own. The rest works through pressure rather than command. Specifically, the order tells officials to find influence over the Smithsonian, including funding and contract conditions, but does not specify what that leverage is or when it must be used. The President does not directly appoint or remove Smithsonian leadership; governance rests with the Board of Regents, which appoints and oversees the Secretary.
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HOW DOES THIS IMPACT BLACK COMMUNITIES? This executive order focuses on how NMAH presents slavery, racial injustice, and dispossession. The underlying report criticizes museum content on the forced removal of Native peoples and slavery, arguing that these interpretations overemphasize injustice at the expense of the nation's founding ideals and accomplishments. It also faults exhibit content connecting Benjamin Franklin's wealth to enslaved labor and objects to museum leadership's engagement with the 1619 Project. The exhibits and the report single out documents that detail the experiences of enslaved Black Americans, so the corrections this order seeks would fall most heavily on how that history is presented to the public. Federally installed signage telling visitors that this content is inaccurate would place the government's account of slavery and racial history at the entrance to the nation's flagship history museum. Black visitors, including school groups and families who travel to Washington, DC, specifically to see their history, would encounter a federal disclaimer about that history before entering the building. This order continues a documented pattern of federal removal of Black historical content. In 2025, the administration ordered the removal of slavery-related signs and exhibits at multiple national parks and previously directed the removal of federal web content on Jackie Robinson's military service and the Tuskegee Airmen.
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HOW ARE CBC MEMBERS RESPONDING? •Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) have made the preservation of Black history a priority and have responded to the administration's campaign against the Smithsonian by defending the institution's independence and the federal funding that orders like this one seek to leverage. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued a statement condemning the Trump administration's intervention in federal museums as an attempt to rewrite American history, characterizing the approach as a fascist takeover. The statement rejected the erasure of shared history and defended the integrity of institutions like the NMAAHC. Full Statement Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and CBC members issued a statement on EO 14253 rejecting the characterization of NMAAHC as distorting American history and describing the administration's approach as whitewashing. Full Statement Rep. Nikema Williams (GA-05) and Rep. Clarke wrote to the President in April 2025 urging reversal, noting that NMAAHC has served over 10 million visitors since opening in 2016 and that Congress appropriated funds for the Smithsonian, including all its museums. Full Statement Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Paul Tonko (NY-20) led 69 colleagues in a letter to the Smithsonian Inspector General requesting an investigation into the order's effect on NMAAHC and other museums. Full Statement
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Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution