Proposed Act Mandates 'Uplifting' History in Federal Museums, Puts VP in Charge of Smithsonian Exhibits

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Act” isn’t about funding new museums or preserving artifacts; it’s about legislating a specific, positive historical narrative for federal sites. This bill essentially declares that American history presented in places like the Smithsonian and National Parks must be an “uplifting monument” that focuses on “great heritage and consistent progress,” rather than highlighting flaws or being “divisive.” The goal is to instill “pride in everyone,” and Congress is ready to enforce that vision with specific, high-level oversight.

The White House Takes Over the Smithsonian’s Curatorial Decisions

If you thought museum curators had the final say on exhibits, think again. This Act puts the Vice President, alongside key White House staff, directly in charge of enforcing these new ideological standards across the entire Smithsonian Institution, including the National Zoo. Their job is to remove anything from these properties that “violates this Act’s policy” or “divides Americans based on race.” Think of it like this: the White House is now the final editor on every plaque and exhibit description. For historians and curators, this is a massive shift, replacing academic freedom and peer review with political oversight, creating a chilling effect where staff might self-censor just to keep their jobs.

Funding Restrictions: Specific Topics Are Now Off-Limits

This bill doesn’t just stop at existing exhibits; it ties future funding to ideological compliance. The Act mandates that money given to the Smithsonian cannot be spent on programs that “degrade shared American values” or “promote ideologies inconsistent with this Act.” The restrictions get hyper-specific for the new American Women’s History Museum. Under this bill, that museum would be prohibited from using federal funds to “celebrate men in women’s sports” or “promote gender-affirming medicine, especially for minors.” For advocacy groups focused on LGBTQ+ issues or gender equality, this is a clear government mandate to exclude certain topics from public discussion in federal cultural spaces.

What Happens to Statues and Parks?

It’s not just D.C. museums that are affected. The Secretary of the Interior is tasked with reviewing all public monuments, statues, and markers managed by the Department that have been changed since January 1, 2020. If the Secretary decides these changes promote a “false history,” “divide people by race,” or “recognize men as women,” they must take action to put the “original monuments back.” This gives the Secretary broad, subjective power to erase recent historical interpretations or context added to monuments, potentially impacting sites that have tried to include more nuanced or diverse perspectives on historical figures or events. For the everyday person visiting a National Park or monument, the history they read on the sign could change based on who is in the Interior Secretary’s office.

The Fine Print on Accountability

While this bill grants significant new power to the Vice President and the Secretary of the Interior to shape historical narratives, it includes a critical line in the final section: the law “does not create any new enforceable rights or benefits for any person or entity against the United States government.” What this means in plain language is that if a historian or a member of the public believes an exhibit was wrongly removed or a monument was improperly altered under the vague terms of this Act (like ‘divisive narratives’ or ‘false history’), they likely have no legal recourse to challenge that decision in court. The power to define “truth and sanity” in American history rests solely with the executive branch officials enforcing the Act.