On July 24, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to slander the work of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., by demanding signs be placed out front accusing the Smithsonian of pushing a “woke” version of history.
These signs, and the alternative sources the White House claims tells the “truth” about American history, are being overseen by self-proclaimed historian and Christian nationalist David Barton.
Caroline Cook
Investigation by the Domestic Policy Council (which is led by the president and made up of members of his cabinet and the executive branch) found exhibits in the Smithsonian presented history are a “prime tool to advance ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of our society.” Therefore, these exhibits do not inspire a sense of national unity, they claimed.
Although the president has no power to alter or prohibit what the Smithsonian chooses to exhibit, Trump gave the executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” to discredit the Smithsonian’s work. The warning signs alert about the “false” information in the exhibits and direct them to sources of “accurate” information about American history.
However, no announcement has been made about which “accurate” sources of information people will be redirected to.
Although White House officials conducted this investigation, the one to provide counseling on what would be the correct and unifying truth of what American history should be is Christian nationalist advocate David Barton.
Barton, despite having a degree in Christian education rather than history, has devoted his life to promoting the idea that the Founding Fathers of America wanted the United States to be a Christian nation. Alongside his son, Tim Barton, he runs WallBuilders, a Christian nationalist political advocacy group that “is dedicated to teaching America’s forgotten history and heroes, emphasizing the moral, Christian and constitutional foundation on which our nation was built.”
Many of Barton’s claims over the years — include touting Thomas Jefferson as a devout Christian who opposed slavery, the Constitution as a nonsecular document laced with biblical quotes — have been debunked by historians and researchers both non-Christian and Christian, such as John Fea from Messiah College, Warren Throckmorton from Grove City College and Ray McMillian of Oasis Church.
Despite this, his group actively campaigned to change Texas public school curriculum to align more with his ideological view of American history, and Barton now is advising Donald Trump on how he can rewrite history to align with his views.
Both David Barton and Tim Barton have admitted over the past year and a half that they have discussed Trump’s investigation of the Smithsonian with officials in the White House and advised the Committee on House Administration on what questions to ask during a hearing about the executive order.
The Barton duo also has been endorsed by other MAGA officials, including Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia. Loudermilk said, “Let’s just let David Barton … or some of these others obtain some of the artifacts that (the Smithsonian has) … and let’s just let those guys run our national museums.”
With the Smithsonian having several vacancies on its board of regents, the power that actually controls what the museums choose to research and exhibit, there is the real possibility the Trump administration will attempt to put conservatives aligned with David Barton’s Christian nationalist view of history into a position to influence what the Smithsonian has to say about our history as a nation.
Caroline Cook served this summer as a BNG Clemons Fellow. She is a student at Baylor University.