Executive Order 14253
| Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History | |
| Seal of the President of the United States | |
| File:Executive Order 14253.pdf Front page of Executive Order 14253 | |
| Type | Executive order |
|---|---|
| Number | 14245 |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Signed | March 31, 2025 |
| Federal Register details | |
| Federal Register document number | 2025-05838 |
| Publication date | April 3, 2025 |
| Summary | |
| |
| , "{{#property:P1476|from=}}", | |
Executive Order 14253, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", is an executive order signed by Donald Trump on March 31, 2025.
The order seeks to shape how the Smithsonian Institution's museums, education, research centers, and the National Zoo characterize American history, aiming to "remove improper ideology from such properties" in order to project "a symbol of inspiration and American greatness".[1][2][3]
The order calls for the Department of Interior to determine whether, since January 1, 2020, any monuments, memorials, statues and markers, within the department's jurisdiction contain any descriptions, depictions, or other content that "inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)". Additionally, it orders the reinstatement of any pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues, and markers that have been removed or changed to "perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology."[4][3][5]
Provisions
[edit | edit source]Executive Order 14253 calls for the Vice President, the Secretary of the Interior, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget working with Congress, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan to enforce its policies "including by seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties" and "recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies."[6]
The order states that future appropriations to the Smithsonian Institution shall be informed by these guidelines and prohibits expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy". It stipulates that the Smithsonian Institution must "celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women's History Museum" and "not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum."[3]
The order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to determine whether, since January 1, 2020, monuments, memorials, statues and markers, within the departments jurisdiction contain any descriptions, depictions, or other content "inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)". The department is also ordered to reinstate any pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues and markers that have been removed or changed to "perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology."[5][6]
Background
[edit | edit source]Confederate monuments and memorials
[edit | edit source]More than 160 Confederate monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America (CSA; the Confederacy) and associated figures have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five of which have been since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors. At least 90 monuments were removed in 2020, the most since 2009, the first year that removals occurred.[7]
Cultural institutions
[edit | edit source]During the first 100 days of his second term, Trump focused on cultural organizations like the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which he alleged were influenced by a "woke" and "race-centered" ideology.[8][9][10][11]
In Executive Order 14253, he made various claims about the institution, such as that "the National Museum of African American History and Culture has proclaimed that 'hard work', 'individualism', and 'the nuclear family' are aspects of 'White culture.'"[8][12]
References
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