Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch to Step Down

The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lonnie G. Bunch III, is stepping down, amid continued criticism from the White House about the direction of the Smithsonian museums. A July White House report charged that the National Museum of American History had become 'subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.' Bunch criticized the report, calling it 'not a fair characterization of the work' in a memo addressed to Smithsonian staffers. The New York Times reported that Bunch 'said it was not the pressure that had led to his departure.' 'I have to be honest, it has been stressful,' Bunch told the Times. 'And at a certain point, I'd like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone.' Bunch is expected to announce his departure soon but will finish the year as secretary of the Smithsonian. The Board of Regents, led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, will appoint a new secretary to take over. 'We can only hope that the next Secretary of the Smithsonian will not treat the Institution as a battleground for his culture wars,' Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal. 'Instead, let's hope that he or she takes seriously the mission of the national museum complex that he or she leads, that is to say to preserve and transmit America's history, culture and art—in a word, heritage—to future generations.' Watch this. Current Smithsonian leadership is engaged in a systematic whitewashing and rewriting of American history. Several leadership vacancies are up by year's end. Congress needs to replace them with people who love our country and will faithfully steward our history. https://t.co/1YsHuCfBsg — Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) September 3, 2026 This is a breaking news article and it will be updated.