The Order to Erase

On March 28, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order mandates a sweeping revision of historical exhibits in federally funded museums, including the Smithsonian Institution. In particular, it targets the National Museum of African American History and Culture, accusing it of spreading a “divisive, race-centered ideology.”

The order instructs that “anti-American narratives” be removed and replaced with materials that “celebrate the greatness of the American founding.” Oversight has been placed in the hands of Vice President JD Vance, now acting as a voting member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents. Under this directive, exhibits must be reviewed and rewritten to remove what the administration deems “harmful distortions” of U.S. history.

What’s Being Changed

According to the accompanying fact sheet, exhibits that focus on systemic racism, slavery, and segregation will be “reconsidered” for their “tone, balance, and patriotism.” The executive order also calls for the restoration of historical monuments previously taken down or renamed, including some dedicated to Confederate figures.

Early drafts of revised exhibit language, leaked to journalists, show efforts to downplay the horrors of slavery and frame the Civil Rights Movement as evidence of America’s self-correcting moral compass rather than a grassroots rebellion against state violence.

Echoes of the Authoritarian Playbook

Historians and civil rights leaders have condemned the order as a clear attempt to whitewash American history and suppress narratives that challenge the legitimacy of Trump’s political vision.

“This is how authoritarians operate,” said Dr. Nina Clark, a professor of American Studies. “They don’t just erase the future. They erase the past and replace it with something that flatters their rule.”

The directive mirrors tactics used by regimes around the world to reshape national identity, from Orbán’s Hungary to Erdogan’s Turkey. In each case, control over public memory has been a central strategy in consolidating power.

Meanwhile, Trump’s base has rallied around the order, hailing it as a long-overdue correction to “woke propaganda” in American institutions. Right-wing media has celebrated the move as a triumph of patriotism over self-flagellation.

A Fight Over National Memory

What happens next will shape not just what Americans learn about their past, but how they understand the present. This is no academic squabble over interpretation. It is a political fight over memory itself — one that may define Trump’s legacy more than any policy or scandal.

And if history is written by the victors, then this battle will decide who gets to hold the pen.