“Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”
By M.G. Dobbs
Executive Order (EO) 14253 is an artifact of the ongoing culture wars being waged in the United States. This EO creates a policy that imposes a narrow perspective of history on national historic sites, especially, but not limited to Independence National Historical Park and the Smithsonian. The Executive Order makes it clear that the Trump Administration believes that the historical interpretation that has been done at national historic sites is not only wrong, but as the name suggests is insane. The EO claims the Executive Branch has the power to alter the history being taught and interpreted at national historic sites. The Executive Order claims that history at national sites are at the whim of any President’s personal politics and can be changed by him, his administration, and any other administration that uses the EO. This Executive Order has been cited as the reason for interpretative signage stripped off the walls at the President’s House site in Philadelphia[1], the removed interpretation depict the lives of George Washington’s enslaved workers. At this site on the 250th “birthday” of the Nation, ignorance has been imposed by the most powerful man in the United States, in order to silence the facts that our first President was dependent on the slave economy for his power and comfort.
The Executive Order explains that American history will be restored to “sanity” by this administration. The Trump administration “restores” by silencing the past, intentionally removing history in order to actively ignore the human lives who built the nation. For example at Independence National Historical Park at the President’s House site, silencing the story of both George Washington and the human beings he enslaved. The EO acts as guidance on how President Trump’s administration intends to silence the important contributions of anyone who defies their narrow perspective of what constitutes contributing histories that make our nation great. It never specifically names who is included in the history the administration deems worthy of interpretation, granting this Executive Order the power to include or silence any who is the target of a president’s political mandates over education of the past at national sites. This EO names only one group specifically who is excluded from historical interpretation, Trans Americans.
The Executive Order claims that there is a concerted effort from a poorly defined group of people pushing “revisionist history” and the administration is attempting fix the damage to history this cabal of revisionists have caused. The EO is a legal document attempting to push an assimilationist version of American history to only include those Americans whom the administration deems to meet the criterion of a contributing American, but again that group is not explicitly described. The Executive Order lays out a path to sanitize American history at national sites, to fit a specific narrative of what American history is and is not, but that specific narrative is also not clearly defined, and it seems one will know it when one sees it. As Michel-Rolph Trouillot points out in his work Silencing the Past, power is projected onto the history that is produced and disseminated. With just the example of the President’s House site, the President of the United States is not only saying that George Washington’s enslaved do not matter to our national story, he is also saying that he has the power to shut up those who think they do. Instead of confronting the past so that we can understand ourselves better, the Trump administration and the movement it represents, aims to silence the past and create a new story. In this war of information and culture in the face of silence, we should all be intentionally loud.
Analysis:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy:
In the first line we can see an attempt by the Trump administration to project onto some undefined entity a nefarious act. “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and wide spread effort to rewrite our nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” The document never goes on to explain who is orchestrating this mass conspiracy to rewrite history. Instead of providing a clear definition of who or what this ideology represents, it does what a conspiracy theory does, it makes a claim and uses amorphous language to claim the position of a benefactor that is here to fix a problem created by an unnamed group or entity. The only recourse to understanding what exactly this ideology is in practice, is by identifying what changes are being made to national historic sites themselves[2]. The Executive Order also mentions “truth,” as we see in this document and at sites like the President’s House, the response of the administration is not conversation or debate over facts but proscribed silence to historic truths and erasure to impose their own myths.
The authors of the document go on to target, “This revisionist movement that seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.” So, any historical interpretation that is construed by the Trump Administration (or future administrations who decide to use this Executive Order for their own purposes) to be negative is part of this insane, unnamed, cabal to cast the U.S. as a bad guy? The writers of the document also have a poor understanding of what they call “historical revisionism.” Unlike this EO, trained historians (which I am guessing is the group being named “revisionists”) do not seek to silence or rewrite history but they are adding previously silenced or little used sources. Historians contextualize primary sources with evidence to understand a fuller history that includes voices that have not been previously explored so that we may have a better understanding of the historical paths that we all navigate.
The Executive Order goes on to claim that its idea of revisionist history “is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” History isn’t reconstructed to make it that way, historians would be remiss not to discuss the historical reality of racism, sexism, oppression, and flawed aspects to our systems. Being flawed is to be human, it gives us something to progress from progress to, without flaw there is no history, there is no human. The history of the advancement of rights is a victory of our shared national past and shows our national history as anything but irredeemable. For example, the developmental path of the expansion of suffrage, from the vote only for a small group of Americans at the beginning and expanding slowly overtime to all citizens above the age of eighteen. Another example of the move of progress is found in the history of the enslaved and the long path to abolition, then the hundred plus years battle for equal civil rights. Or the move from a Nation of mostly farmers to one of the most economically competitive countries in history. History shows us flaws but it also shows us the pathways our ancestors navigated beyond the constraints of the past. The history of the people of the United States shows us how our nation is one of redeemable progress beyond its flaws or humble beginnings.
The Executive Order claims historical revision, “deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame,” without taking into account the divides caused by ignoring and silencing the past. Division manifests when pasts are silenced so the myths of others may thrive. Imposed silence by those who are attempting to exert authoritarian[3] control over an assimilationist history or to simply ignore the past, causes divides in our nation not the discussion of historical evidence and analysis. Education and discourse about our divides helps us to heal, helps us to unify. Discourse and education of the past is the remedy not the cause of our nation’s divides. Learning about the past can be uncomfortable, especially when learning the difficulties many of our countrymen went through on the pathway to freedom, but ignoring the past will only cause strife. Pretending the past didn’t happen for propagandistic purposes is shameful, not expanding the study of history to groups outside of some specific narrative. Documenting, analyzing, and teaching the past of our nation is in no way shape or form a shameful act but, hiding away from it is. In order to mend divides we must confront our history, not shy away from it.
The Executive Order goes on to give two unclear examples that muddy the argument of the “corrosive ideology” even further. The first is at Independence National Historic Park, it claims that the previous administration directed the site to be more racist[4], but the EO just makes claims without pointing to any evidence. Secondly, it focuses in on the Smithsonian Institution saying it “has in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive race centered ideology” that “has prompted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” The Executive Order then goes on to name an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum about how race has been used to “establish and maintain systems of power” the EO then cites the SAAM “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and that “race is a human invention.” Is the EO claiming that scientific racism is a Western value that is under attack? Is it claiming counter to the realities discovered by the human genome project that confirms that race is in fact a human invention and not a genetic reality? What is it trying to say here?
The Executive Order goes on, “It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing. Museums in our National capital should be places where individuals go to learn.” How are individuals supposed to go and learn about the greatness of American union by silencing and dividing the stories that uplift it for a very narrow perspective of that said union? How are we to learn of our progress without analysis of the flaws, what are we even progressing from and to in a flawless society? How can we truly learn and understand the prosperity of our nation when the stories of those who actually built the nation to what it is are silenced? Are we to silence the enslaved ancestors forcibly brought across the Atlantic to work in bondage, which allowed the prosperity and greatness of men like Washington? Do we erase the genius, assistance, and colonialization of Indigenous Americans which allows our continued prosperity? Should we shun the migrants who continue to build this nation? How about the working peoples who fought daily for progress while building the industrial might of our Nation? Maybe the women who birthed us, educated us, fought for freedom with us, and at the same time fought for equality under the law to should stay silent? At what point is our history ok? Where does this administration draw the line between proper and improper history? It is evident that this administration is attempting to build a historical narrative that fits a narrow version of some victorious group that dominates society.
Section 2. Saving our Smithsonian:
This section explains how this administration will save the Smithsonian from revisionists[5] and Trans people. The administration will fix the Smithsonian by using a group of people that seek “to remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian properties. It will make changes by hitting the Smithsonian in the budget, no money for the exploration of race or anything that goes against “Federal law.” There is to be no mention of Transwomen at the American Women’s History Museum. Lastly they are going to appoint “citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of this order.” The administration continues to attack Trans Americans and their right to historically exist as part of their larger culture war to cultivate a scapegoated “other” to focus their political base’s ire[6].
The administration is actively targeting a group of Americans it does not believe should exist, by erasing them from our history and eliminating any mention of them at national sites. This is a signal that the President and the group he represents believe that they, and they alone have the power to determine the groups that should and should not be represented in the national story. This signaling is very worrisome to those that believe it is an individual’s right to exist outside of the mandates of government officials. Officially, by Presidential decree, with no debate, the President has openly called for the erasure of a group of Americans from representation in the national story. Strange to think a document so hell bent on protecting liberty makes sure that it is a very limited version, that only the Trump administration can define and those who understand what they mean by “improper ideologies” can eliminate[7].
The removal of Tran Americans from the national story acts a warning to anyone witnessing the enactment of this Executive Order. It shows a willingness and the ability of the President, to use a culture war term, to cancel anyone deemed not worthy of the attention of the administration. That sends a clear message that other groups, people, stories, can be cancelled too. It also send the message that if you can be canceled then maybe you can buy in to it as well. This section of the EO leaves me wondering if all of this is some large historical “shakedown” of history and the national story itself.
Section 3. Restoring Independence Hall
This section explains how the Trump administration will go about improving the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. Which as of 22 Jan 2026, using this Executive Order officials are erasing the mention of enslaved Americans from the Park at a site called “The President’s House” which acted as Presidential mansion from 1790-1797. The recent removal of interpretive historical work done on the site, which painstakingly and diligently, documents the lives of people enslaved by George Washington. Even the mere mention of the fact that Washinton in context of him being an owner of human beings is too much for President Trump. Without clear words, the administration’s actions must speak for the intention of the EO. Here at Independence National Historic Park we have their answer, the erasure of Black advancement from its source, a flaw that needed to be fixed, a major issue that needed to be progressed from, the system of American racism, sexism, and oppression, nipped at the outset to create a framework of silence to develop a new version of history around, not one with more voices, a more perfected and harmonious union, but a deafening silence that is enforced from the highest seat in the land. To quite one of the nation’s original sins, the enslavement of human beings for the profit and advancement of the United States of America. Just in time to celebrate America’s 250th birthday none the less.
If taken into account the story being told of the enslaved Americans at the President’s House does not undermine “our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing Liberty, individual rights, and human happiness” the enslaved of George Washington propels that understanding of human advancement. The perspective of the enslaved of George Washington and the descendants of the previously enslaved of America show us clearly the path of liberty and individual rights by groups of Americans being granted no rights and privileges at our nation’s founding. The enslaved of the past have shown us a clear path to freedom. That is a conversation worth having, not quietly sweeping this factual history under the rug because it makes some Americans uncomfortable to confront.
Section 4. Restoring Truth in American History.
This section directs the Department of the Interior (DoI) to do a few things. The first one seems strange, and I wish I knew more about what exactly they were going on about in this part. The DoI is to determine if any site has been “removed or changed to perpetrate a false reconstruction of American History” since 1 Jan 2020. DoI is to investigate sites that “inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures or include and other improper partisan ideology.” Any “improper partisan ideology,” this is cultural authoritarianism from the President from the U.S. himself. DoI is to also “reinstate the preexisting monuments.”
The EO states that there will be no interpretation “that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times) and instead focus on the greatness of the American people or, the natural beauty of the United States.” Donald Trump will make America great by silencing and ignoring the parts that make some Americans uncomfortable, and by Presidential order people will stop learning history, except that history which is approved by the Executive Branch at national sites.
Conclusion:
As I read this Executive Order I realize it is not a problem of history for the authors, but a problem of history education. The administration is laying claim over the authority to dictate what is and is not in the national story. The EO claims the authority over the national story is in the hands of the President and the executive branch has the justification to disrupt the authority of trained experts. History is not merely a set of things that happened in the past but a study of how we change over time, what is the context of that change, how we are shaped by it, and how we shape it. History helps us understand that how we got here is completely on the shoulders of those who came before us, the good and the bad, so that we can understand the world in which we exist and make decisions in and learn to handle problems we haven’t even dreamed up yet. History shows us a complicated world where we are all connected to one another, to help or hinder our abilities to progress in the world for ourselves and our children. History is not merely facts about dudes and dates and all the shiny things people have done and conquered. Silencing the past has nothing to do with unity and everything to with power. The administration doesn’t care about historical truth, it cares about the power of propaganda. Whoever has the power over the story of the past has the authority to dictate that power as it sees fit. The past does not belong to a President, or a party, or a nation, the past is all of ours together.
All in all, this Executive Order reads like a group of people who are trying to impose a specific historical narrative, made and maintained, by the President of the United States. I see the tactics of conspiracy theorists who weave stories about unnamed cabals seeking to destroy the fabric of society and only a small group of dedicated people in the know must save us all from this evil. Except the document reads like a group of people who want the authority to wield power over the past so that their small group can dominate a deceptive homogenized perspective of history.
Howard Thurman in his book Jesus and the Disinherited is helpful while thinking through the “why’s” of this current administration’s intent to silence the flaws of our great nation. In the chapter titled “Deception,” Thurman refers to Macbeth and a “post-moral” authoritarian force that the disinherited of the nation continuously face up against. Quoting Macbeth, “it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Thurman says, “The penalty of deception is to become a deception.” Then he says about those who have succumbed to a life of falsehoods, “Life is only a tale told by a fool, having no meaning because deception has wiped out all moral distinctions.” A group of people so desperate for power they think that all is a deception, even the morality of the ideologies they propose to protect. There is no morality except for their version of the truth that promotes their own power and dominance of the system they claim to respect. Later in the chapter Thurman goes on to point out a path forward, his answer to deception is sincerity. “In the presence of an overwhelming sincerity on the part of the disinherited, the dominant themselves are caught with no defense, with the edge taken away from the sense of prerogative and from the status upon which the impregnability of their position rests.” He then says, “The experience of power has no meaning aside from the other-than-self reference which sustains it.”
In the last five hundred years, our species has rapidly spread across Earth. We have been redefining ourselves forging new futures built on the pasts that brought us here. Millions of us from all parts of the planet have made our way to this part of the globe. We all have a hand in making this place ours as we interact with each other in the most interesting ways. Some positive, some negative, but always human. How can we pretend that there is just one way to interpret or understand the history of “us”?
At one point in my life, I was beginning to come into real contact with the history of race in our country. A friend of mine that I would love to engage in historical debate and conversation with is a Black person. At one point in a discussion of race in our country, I told her that, though I was a White person I was “colorblind” and that all people were equal in my eyes. She looked at me and said, “if you are colorblind, then you can’t see me.” Race forged who she was, not of her demand but because she was born Black in America. Historical forces made demands of the society that she was born into, she was born Black because she was born in America. Skin color is a byproduct of adaptation, racial caste is byproduct of power. That is a historical reality that has origins, a traceable past, and still has real effects for every American today, some get to pretend otherwise but the effects remain real. Are we just supposed to pretend that Black America and the past that forged their development doesn’t exist because it is politically inconvenient, socially uncomfortable, or in service to those who wish to impose truths for their own power?
That conversation with my friend began a process that opened my eyes to the history that sat around me the entirety of my life, that I lived in a world of multiple “us” with a plurality of pasts. A plurality that are not only viable for study but that to learn other versions of “us” was to begin to understand the true beauty and horror of the nation I call home and have served most of my adult life thus far. This is our nation, not a nation of one small group that lays claim to it. To reach the difficult precipices the founders of this nation put in front of us, and many millions have built, to have one out of many we need to understand how we can become one with the many. Those who wish to impose a version of the past on the rest of us, though force or through silence does not have the goal of the consent of the many, they have the goal of imposed force for the one or the few. This EO should be a call for resistance against those who wish to silence the many for the power of the few. The many of our histories matter and all are necessary to understand this land we call home.
Are we to turn our backs on the achievements and gains nonelite groups have made in the last seventy years? As Andrew Hurly points out in Beyond Preservation, “reevaluation of history was part and parcel of the liberation struggles of the decade: the civil rights movement, the black power movement, the women’s movement, and the antiwar movement, among others.” Do we cede gained ground in the culture war we find ourselves embroiled in or do we make it our fight and work toward the equality and justice promised by the founders of this nation and so many who came after? Our histories are diverse because that is what our nation is. The old transcendentalist quote by Theodore Parker, retooled by MLK and then later by former President Obama has been ringing in my head, “The moral arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” It doesn’t just bend that way by happenstance, every generation must wield the tools and weigh that arc to bend. We bend the arc, our actions must ring, not just to fill the voids left in the silent rifts caused by authoritarian demands, but so that our progeny can count us too as honored ancestors who got the work done when it was our time to do so.
[1] January of 2026
[2] See Section 3.
[3] Use of state apparatus to impose a narrow perspective of history by claiming power over national sites to gain the authority to dictate what is presented as the official narrative of the state.
[4] From the EO, section 1: At Independence National Historical Park the Biden administration, “pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist.”
[5] Again, I am left to guess they mean trained experts.
[6] The appointment of citizens to help remove “improper ideology” is just creepy, like whoever wrote this document read 1984 and thought it was great idea.
[7] Is there a list somewhere of ideologies or groups that the President or his MAGA movement do not believe should exist?
dobbshead 