President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal agencies to restore U.S. monuments removed during former President Joe Biden’s term and scrub “anti-American ideology” from national museums, parks and memorials.
The order instructs the interior secretary to reinstate historical markers and statues taken down after January 1, 2020, and tasks Vice President JD Vance with reviewing and reversing “divisive” DEI initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution. It further bars taxpayer funding for exhibitions that “degrade shared American values” or promote race-based narratives inconsistent with federal law.
“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history … reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” the order reads. “It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union.”
I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020
Among the memorials likely to be reinstated is the Confederate Reconciliation Monument at Arlington National Cemetery, which was dismantled in 2023 under the Biden administration. The statue became a flashpoint in recent years as activists accused it of glorifying the Confederacy. The memorial was ultimately removed after recommendations by a congressionally mandated Naming Commission, which was established in the wake of nationwide riots and widespread vandalism following the death of George Floyd in 2020 — a movement that spurred the toppling or defacing of dozens of historical monuments across the country.
The order applies to other federally controlled properties, including Civil War battlefields, presidential sites and National Park Service locations.
Trump’s directive singles out the National Museum of African American History and Culture for linking concepts like individualism and the nuclear family to “white culture,” and accuses the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum of planning to “recognize men as women.”
“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to divisive narratives,” the order reads.
The order also calls for citizen appointments to the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents and tasks top domestic aides Vince Haley and Lindsey Halligan with ensuring congressional appropriations reflect the new mandate.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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