Lonnie Bunch III steps down as Trump pressure on Smithsonian intensifies

Lonnie Bunch III steps down as Trump pressure on Smithsonian intensifies His exit closes an 18-month standoff over how American history gets told Lonnie Bunch III, the first African American and first historian to lead the Smithsonian Institution, announced Tuesday that he will step down as its secretary at the end of the year. His exit closes seven years at the helm of the world's largest museum complex, years that grew increasingly strained under sustained pressure from the Trump administration over how the Smithsonian portrays the nation's history. Why Bunch says the timing is his own Bunch has been explicit that the White House campaign did not force his hand. In interviews, he framed the decision as simply about timing, saying the moment had arrived to move on rather than pointing to any single external trigger. Still, the climate surrounding his final stretch as secretary was unmistakably tense. Bunch has said he looked forward to mornings when he would no longer need to check his phone for the latest political flashpoint tied to the institution he led. In a statement announcing his departure, Bunch said the Smithsonian has been one of the great loves of his life and that he leaves with pride, sadness, gratitude and confidence in the people who will carry the institution forward. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who chairs the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, praised Bunch's tenure, tracing his career from an early role as a curator through his years leading the National Museum of African American History and Culture and into his time as secretary. Lonnie Bunch Says He Will Resign As Secretary Of The Smithsonian Amid Trump Administration Attacks And Pressure On Institution https://t.co/xevbUkeWZx — Deadline (@DEADLINE) September 8, 2026 The pressure campaign behind his exit The friction between Bunch and the White House escalated over roughly a year and a half. In July, the administration released a 162-page report accusing the National Museum of American History of what it called extreme political activism, arguing the museum had drifted from a fair account of the country's story. Bunch pushed back directly, telling staff in a memo that the characterization did not reflect the museum's actual work. Historians' associations also objected, with one group describing the report as part of a broader effort to reshape how the nation's story gets told. The pressure did not stop at a report. President Trump signed an executive order requiring the National Park Service to post signage outside certain museums warning visitors of what the administration called inaccurate information inside. The Department of the Interior separately threatened to withhold federal grants and block other agencies from lending artifacts to the Smithsonian unless leadership and exhibits changed. The National Portrait Gallery saw its own leadership shake-up in mid-2025, when its director resigned shortly after Trump said publicly that he had pushed her out over what he described as partisan support for diversity initiatives. What comes next for the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch III will remain in his post through the end of the year while the Smithsonian's Board of Regents begins the process of selecting a successor. That board includes Roberts as chancellor, Vice President JD Vance, and a mix of lawmakers from both parties. The selection is already shaping up to be its own political test. Trump has directed Vance to seek out new public board members whose views align closely with the administration's vision for the institution, raising questions about how much continuity the next secretary will bring compared with Bunch's approach. Bunch spent more than three decades in the museum field before becoming secretary in 2019, building his reputation as the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he opened in 2016 after starting the project with no staff, no funding and no site. That history means his departure is being watched closely, not only as a personnel change but as a signal of where the Smithsonian's leadership goes next at a moment when the institution's independence from the executive branch is being tested more directly than it has in decades. For now, the Smithsonian moves forward under Bunch through the rest of the year, with its next chapter still very much unwritten. Source: ABC News, The Atlantic