Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch to Retire as Trump Targets Museum Consortium

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III will retire at the end of this year, according to the Washington Post, amid a historic confrontation with the Trump administration over how the museum consortium historicize the United States. 

Bunch, who assumed leadership in 2019, has faced extraordinary pressure from the White House over the past 18 months to comply with President Trump’s ideological intervention in the Smithsonian, which has had its exhibitions targeted for including references to gender diversity, racism, and class equity. A seasoned museum administrator, Bunch had largely resisted the White House’s encroachment, once defending the Smithsonian against a 162-page executive report that accused its American history branch of “extreme political activism” and seeking to “to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

In an email to his staff this summer, shared with the Washington Post, Bunch said the July 4 report was “not a fair characterization of the work and totality” of the museum, asserting that “our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story.” 

While the Smithsonian is overseen by Congress, not the White House, federal funds account for about 60 percent of its annual budget of $1 billion. Trump proposed cutting the institution’s budget by roughly 12 percent for fiscal year 2026, placing Bunch in the precarious—and evidently untenable—position of appeasing Trump without conceding to him. Last year, Trump ordered Vice President JD Vance to oversee an internal review of the Smithsonian network’s programming. Bunch ultimately told the administration that the Smithsonian would conduct its own review to ensure its programming and content were “nonpartisan and factual.”

Bunch’s compliance with the internal review, however, did not spare Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), from being grilled in two congressional hearings this July over her perceived failure to uphold the institution’s mission. The hearings included questions such as, “Do you love America?” and culminated in a call from conservative critics of the Smithsonian to “clean house” through a leadership overhaul. 

ARTnews has contacted the Smithsonian and White House for comment. 

Notably, the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents lost two members last fall when their terms expired, leaving the governing body without two trustees. Breaking with historical precedent, the Trump administration has since involved itself in the process of selecting their replacements.

Speaking to the New York Times in May, Bunch appeared to acknowledge that the vacancies on the board had shaken his standing, describing “American Aspirations,” an exhibition honoring America’s 250th anniversary, as “probably the last exhibit I will curate, there’s no doubt about that.”