An exit against a backdrop of pressure from the Trump administration. The head of the Smithsonian Institution, an emblematic American museum complex, announced his departure on Tuesday September 8.
“It is with very mixed feelings and deep gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian,” wrote Lonnie Bunch, the first African American to hold this position, in a statement.
This 73-year-old historian took over as head of the Smithsonian Institution in 2019 after more than three decades of work within this vast museum, educational and research complex, governed by a unique public-private partnership.
Lonnie Bunch notably contributed to the creation of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
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His departure comes as the White House has increased attacks against the institution, which it accuses of conveying an overly progressive world view.
An institution accused of “radical ideology”
In August 2025, Donald Trump accused it of being “OUT OF CONTROL”, and deplored that the museums of the federal capital present, according to him, a “horrible image of our country, (in particular) on the evils of slavery (…) and nothing on its success and its brilliance”.
The Republican president then signed a decree in March 2026 aimed at regaining control of the content of these museums.
In a 162-page document subsequently published by the White House, the Trump administration notably accuses the Smithsonian Institution of not sufficiently emphasizing “the central role of the Christian faith” in American history.
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“White Americans, men and Christians are regularly denigrated as the embodiment of oppressive structures,” we read in this text.
This pressure recently increased in August, when a Trump minister wrote to the institution’s board of directors to demand a meeting on these accusations of “radical ideology”, at one time threatening to deprive it of public funds.
“I have to be honest, it was stressful,” Lonnie Bunch told the New York Times, while ensuring that these pressures were not at the origin of his decision to leave. “It was just the right time,” he said.
With AFP
