Bunch defends Smithsonian against Trump attacks, gets standing ovation

Outgoing secretary calls slavery ‘foundational’ to understanding US

Lonnie Bunch, the outgoing secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, received a standing ovation Friday as he defended the organization against political pressure from the Trump administration at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Bunch, who served as the museum’s founding director, told an audience of several hundred that telling the unvarnished and complex truths of history is an act of “great love” for the country.

“The notion that somehow this museum or any part of the Smithsonian is done by people who don’t love America, don’t care about America, is unbelievably wrong,” Bunch said. “And what you see in this building is great love. Great respect.”

Bunch argued that slavery is “foundational” to understanding the United States. “When people say you talk too much about slavery or that they’re embarrassed by slavery, I wish I was as strong as my enslaved ancestor,” he said. “I wish I could believe in America that they believed. I wish that I could dream a world anew that they dreamed.” He added: “So for me, it’s not saying, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to be embarrassed, I’m trying to hurt a country.’ I’m trying for people to understand, how did these people believe? How did they lay this foundation that we built upon? Because everything started there.”

The secretary, who began his career at the Smithsonian in 1978 and became its first Black secretary in 2019, insisted that museum curation must be grounded in independent scholarship rather than political pressure. “You cannot understand the greatness of a country without understanding the totality of a country,” Bunch said. “You cannot understand all without illuminating the dark corners. Curating means let’s shine the light. Let’s tell the truth.”

His remarks come amid escalating hostility from the Trump administration. Last year Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

The White House has since issued a report accusing Smithsonian leaders of being radical activists and ordered a wide-ranging review of museum content ahead of the U.S.’s 250th anniversary. The administration has also accused cultural institutions of seeking to “rewrite our Nation’s history” and ordered that warning signs be placed outside the nearby National Museum of American History. Trump has separately threatened to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington after a judge ruled that he could not attach his name to it.

Earlier this month, Bunch announced he will step down at the end of the year. On Friday, he sought to assure his audience that the African American museum would endure. “Every time I walk through this museum, especially on days when I was feeling like everybody was beating me up,” Bunch said — prompting moderator Laura Coates, a CNN anchor, to ask, “Did that happen recently?” Bunch quipped: “Just once or twice. But I walk through and I go down and see Emmett Till’s casket and I find myself saying: ‘You can persevere.’”

“So for me, this is what makes me believe everything is possible,” Bunch said. “This is what makes me believe that, no matter what anybody says, you could never erase what’s in this building.” He called the museum a “beacon of possibility” and a “place of resistance,” adding: “What I’m proudest of is that, though there’ll be pushes and attempts to try to do things, this museum will stand as long as there’s an America.”

The event also featured television producer and Smithsonian board member Shonda Rhimes, who pledged $1 million to a newly launched legacy fund in Bunch’s honor. The fund was seeded by a $3.5 million anonymous donation and has a minimum goal of $10 million. Acting museum director Shanita Brackett said the fund will “support this museum uniquely and solely” and help ensure the institution continues to reflect the values of “inclusion, public engagement and independent scholarship without influence.”

The Smithsonian Institution operates outside the executive branch under a board of regents that includes Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Vice President JD Vance. After Bunch announced his departure, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla praised him for speaking “truth to power” in the face of Trump’s attacks, while the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, pledged to ensure Bunch’s successor did not treat the institution as a “culture-war battleground.”