As Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will be leaving his role by the end of the year, Democrats in Congress praised him for trying to show the “full history” of America. Bunch was the first African American and the first historian to be appointed to the role. He has led the institution during a […]
Roll Call · Nina Heller · September 8, 2026
As Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will be leaving his role by the end of the year, Democrats in Congress praised him for trying to show the “full history” of America.
Bunch was the first African American and the first historian to be appointed to the role. He has led the institution during a fraught time, as it faces ongoing pressure to conform its content to the White House’s vision.
“I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been,” Bunch said in a statement Tuesday. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Bunch has worked for the Smithsonian since 1978, when he joined the institution as an educational specialist at the National Air and Space Museum. He went on to become the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and was appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to lead the broader institution in 2019.
“One of my goals as Secretary was for the Smithsonian to increase our reach in education, in scholarship, in scientific research. I believe we should be in every home and classroom in the country,” Bunch testified in December 2023 at a House Administration Committee oversight hearing.
While House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., did not release a statement Tuesday afternoon on Bunch’s coming departure, at least one Democratic member of the panel weighed in.
“I’m grateful for his decades of service and his commitment to telling the full, honest story of our nation,” Rep. Terri A. Sewell, D-Ala., wrote on X , calling his leadership “trailblazing.”
Sewell and other Democrats in Congress have accused President Donald Trump of trying to rope the Smithsonian into broader culture wars and erase uncomfortable truths, like slavery and colonization, from American history.
A 162-page White House report released this summer complained of “ideological capture” at the National Museum of American History, following an executive order last March that called for the removal of “divisive, race-centered ideology” across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo.
Some Republicans in Congress, like Rep. Keith Self of Texas, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana, introduced bills to codify the action by Trump, but those have so far seen no movement. Lawmakers have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the fight, aside from two different congressional hearings this summer.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., one of six members of Congress who sit on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, said Bunch had served with “distinction.”
“He is a student of history who has devoted his life to telling America’s full history and cultivating our nation’s continued love of learning and exploration,” she said in a statement.
One of the congressional Republicans serving on the board, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said in a statement, “I look forward to working with my fellow Regents as the Smithsonian begins this important new chapter and searches for a new Secretary who will preserve America’s history and master the art of storytelling for generations to come.”
The Smithsonian receives roughly two-thirds of its funding from federal sources. Last appropriations cycle, the president’s budget requested a cut of 12 percent, but Congress opted to keep the funding level mostly steady at just over $1 billion.
“Secretary Bunch has guided the Smithsonian through a period of unprecedented political interference while remaining committed to scholarship, expertise, and the public trust,” House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a statement.
Board of Regents Chair Franklin D. Raines announced Tuesday that the board would name an acting secretary “in due course” and begin a “national search” for Bunch’s replacement.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., ranking member of the Senate Rules and Administration panel, said Bunch “spoke truth to power” in the face of Trump’s “attacks” on the Smithsonian.
“While I respect his decision to depart, the job now falls to the Board of Regents and Congress to ensure the success of his work will remain for generations to come,” Padilla said in a statement.