GOP lawmaker demands answers after Smithsonian chief urged moving beyond 'America First mentality'
Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, grilled Smithsonian leadership at a hearing on Wednesday on why the National Museum of American History (NMAH) had dropped mention of "American history" from its mission...
By Fox News · Fox News
Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, grilled Smithsonian leadership at a hearing on Wednesday on why the National Museum of American History (NMAH) had dropped mention of " American history " from its mission statement in "You explained that the museum removed the phrase ‘American history’ from the mission statement in order to help people ‘to get out of the America-first mentality,’ Carey said, posing his question to Anthea Hartig, NMAH administrator. "What did you mean by America-first?" he asked. Carey’s line of questioning, made during a Committee on House Administration hearing on Wednesday, comes as Republicans in Congress have made preserving America’s heritage a proxy for larger struggles over national identity and cultural values. 'THE VIEW' CO-HOST WHINES SMITHSONIAN HEARINGS ARE ABOUT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOT WANTING TO PAY REPARATIONS Progressive thinkers, such as Hartig, have argued that keeping the darker parts of American history in view should inform an understanding of the country’s past — and help set its policy direction in the present. In response, many Republican lawmakers have voiced deep unrest over efforts to characterize the U.S. as marked by oppression or slavery — such as the New York Times’ 1619 Project . Many conservatives have argued that the American ideals, laid out in documents like the Declaration of Independence, transcend even the country’s most blatant failures to live up to those aspirations; that they are anything but definitive of the American experience. The conversation has also taken on a new focus in President Donald Trump’s second term as the administration has pulled out all the stops in celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary . With calls to "Make America great again" and put "America first," the administration released a report called "Saving America’s Story." That report highlighted the American History Museum’s decision to change its mission statement and called out Hartig specifically. SPEAKER JOHNSON WARNS STUDENTS ARE 'I…