Trump rewriting history? Smithsonian removes reference to his two impeachments from presidency exhibit
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump rewriting history? Smithsonian removes reference to his two impeachments from presidency exhibit")
A photograph of US President Donald Trump hangs on the wall at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, on May 14, 2021. Photograph: (AFP)
The exhibit featuring Trump's impeachments has been up since September 2021. However, it has now been taken down, supposedly as part of a content review that the Smithsonian has "agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director".
Donald Trump's impeachments have been deleted from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. As per reports, the 47th President of the United States, who happens to be the only POTUS to be impeached twice, has been removed from the "impeachment" exhibit, part of the wider exhibit called "The American Presidency". The display, which until July 2025 included references to both of Trump's impeachments, now states, "Only three presidents have seriously faced removal".
Trump's impeachment display
As per the Washington Post, the exhibit featuring Trump's impeachments has been up since September 2021. However, it has now been taken down, supposedly as part of a content review that the Smithsonian has "agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director".
While, according to the report, the Smithsonian has said that "a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments", all except a brief mention of the impeachments is made by the online companion. However, it doesn't provide much information about the cases.
United States' impeached presidents
In the US, four presidents have been impeached:
- Andrew Johnson in 1868 for violating the Tenure of Office Act—was acquitted by the Senate later.
- Richard Nixon, in 1974, faced impeachment proceedings for his role in the Watergate scandal. However, he resigned before the House could vote on the impeachment motion.
- Bill Clinton in 1998 for the perjury and obstruction of justice related to his affair with Monica Lewinsky — was acquitted by the Senate later.
- Donald Trump, as mentioned, has been impeached twice. In 2019, he was impeached for abuse of power and for alleged unlawful solicitation from Ukraine. In 2021, he was impeached over the Jan 6 US Capitol insurrection. Both times, he was acquitted by the Senate.
Trump rewriting history?
Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has made multiple attempts to exert influence over American cultural institutions. Since January of this year, he has taken over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has made drastic changes at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and has imposed budget cuts on the National Park Service.
In March, in an apparent bid to exert influence on the Smithsonian, he signed an executive order to eliminate what he called "anti-American ideology" across the Smithsonian museums and "restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness." He later, without any authority, tried to fire Kim Sajet, the director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, accusing her of being "a highly partisan" person. To back his attempts, his White House later published a list of 17 instances, including the caption for the museum's presidential portrait for Trump, which mentioned the two impeachments and "incitement of insurrection" for Jan 6.
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