Story perspectives

Lonnie Bunch Announces Smithsonian Exit at End of 2026

By Drooid · Sep 12, 2026, 10:06 AM UTC · How we work

Left

Bunch Steps Down

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will step down at the end of 2026.
President Donald Trump’s plan to reshape Smithsonian includes an order on signs and a report labeling radical activists for showing slavery, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous histories.
Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian’s first Black secretary and first historian, was appointed in June 2019.
Curator Katherine Ott was cited for the exhibition “Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall.”

Right

Bunch Retires

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III announced he will retire at the end of 2026.
President Donald Trump urged replacing the Center for Restorative History with a Center for American Heroes and launching a five-year George Washington exhibition ending February 22 2032.
Recent Smithsonian exhibits, according to Trump, focus overwhelmingly on oppressed groups.
Lonnie Bunch called the White House’s accusations against the National Museum of American History unfair.

Center

Bunch Resigns

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will step down at the end of 2026.
President Donald Trump issued a March 2025 executive order directing Vice President JD Vance to purge “improper, divisive, or anti-American” ideology from Smithsonian programs.
July 2026 White House report called Smithsonian leaders “radical activists” unfit to tell America’s story.
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, including JD Vance and John Roberts, governs it outside executive branch.

Blindspot

President Donald Trump issued an executive order mandating the National Museum of American History to display signs stating that its exhibits are inaccurate.
Within this story's sources, this angle appears mainly in Left-leaning coverage and receives less attention in Center-leaning coverage.

History

Historical Context

President George H.W. Bush signed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act on November 16 1990, obligating federally funded museums to return Indigenous remains. The Smithsonian Institution, adhering to comparable statutes, had repatriated thousands of remains—including over 2,000 to tribes such as the Navajo—by 1995. Trump’s 2024 executive orders echo the same cultural-heritage conflict the law created.

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Bunch Steps Down

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will step down at the end of 2026.
President Donald Trump’s plan to reshape Smithsonian includes an order on signs and a report labeling radical activists for showing slavery, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous histories.
Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian’s first Black secretary and first historian, was appointed in June 2019.
Curator Katherine Ott was cited for the exhibition “Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall.”

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