Smithsonian staff applaud Lonnie Bunch before his final regents meeting

By Delphine Brooks

WASHINGTON — Smithsonian employees, former staff and supporters lined the entrance of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Monday morning to applaud Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III as he arrived for his last meeting with the institution’s Board of Regents, NBC4 Washington and WTOP reported. Some wore pins reading “Thanks a Bunch, Lonnie.”

Bunch, 73, announced on Sept. 8 that he will retire at the end of the year after 38 years at the Smithsonian, the last seven as its 14th secretary. His departure follows more than a year of pressure from the Trump administration over how the institution presents American history.

In July, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution.” It followed a White House Domestic Policy Council report, “Saving America’s Story,” which concluded that leadership at the National Museum of American History had “explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated.” The White House fact sheet said the report shows the Smithsonian “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly” and is “not properly stewarding the over $1 billion entrusted to it by the American taxpayer each year.”

The order directs the interior secretary to put up temporary signs near the American history museum describing the report’s findings, and temporary exhibits or signs to correct what the administration considers inaccurate information inside it. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum later wrote to the Smithsonian accusing its leadership of having “sanctioned a radical institutional ideology to permeate” the museum, according to CBS News.

Bunch told The New York Times that his retirement was not driven by the dispute, CBS reported. “Now’s the time,” he said, while acknowledging that “it has been stressful.”

A morning send-off

On Monday, Bunch stepped out of an SUV to find the crowd waiting, NBC4 reported. “What’s wonderful is all these people. This is why you do this work,” he said. “The Smithsonian has 7,000 gifted public servants who give everything they can to make America better.”

Harold Closter, a former Smithsonian employee, called Bunch “a superb historian” and “a superb leader” who had “done a marvelous job leading the Smithsonian for the last seven years.”

James Millward, a Georgetown University professor who is part of a volunteer group called Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, told WTOP he appreciated Bunch’s work “particularly over the last year, when the attacks from the White House really started ramping up.” He told NBC4 that, contrary to the White House’s account, the museums tell “everybody’s story.”

Bunch reflected on the opening of the African American history museum, which he led from its founding. “That day 10 years ago, one will never forget,” he told WTOP. “Part of the great strength of a nation is to remember all of its history, and that’s what this museum does.”

Career and succession

Bunch first joined the Smithsonian in 1978 at the National Air and Space Museum and later held curatorial and leadership posts at the National Museum of American History, according to CBS. He returned in 2005 to build the African American history museum, which opened in 2016, and became secretary in 2019. He was the first African American and the first historian to lead the institution.

Chief Justice John Roberts, the Smithsonian’s chancellor, said in September that Bunch “has pursued excellence in the telling of our nation’s story” and that the regents would work with him “to ensure a smooth transition for his successor.” The Smithsonian is searching for a replacement, NBC4 reported.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the Smithsonian and the White House.