WATCH: ‘Shocking’ Ben Franklin smear leaves Smithsonian chief with ‘no regrets’
The director of the country's premier American history museum said she has no regrets about any of the museum’s exhibits under her tenure after an expert confronted her with a...
By Fox News · Fox News
The director of the country's premier American history museum said she has no regrets about any of the museum’s exhibits under her tenure after an expert confronted her with a "shocking" display that he said smeared founding father Benjamin Franklin. Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig faced intense questioning from lawmakers during two Capitol Hill hearings this week. The hearings followed a White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of using taxpayer dollars and its status as a world-renowned institution to advance a "radical activist ideology." During a House hearing on Tuesday, Heritage Foundation expert Mike Gonzalez testified that a multiyear special exhibit titled "The Electric Dr. Franklin" included a display that "pondered whether he had ever done experiments, electrical electroshock on indentured servants or slaves." Gonzalez testified that the display included this suggestion "without producing any evidence whatsoever," which he called "shocking." "Why smear a founding father such as Ben Franklin by pondering such a really bizarre thing," asked Gonzalez. WATCH: SMITHSONIAN DIRECTOR PRESSED ON WOKE EXHIBITS: ‘IS MICKEY MOUSE RACIST?’ Immediately after Gonzalez’s testimony, Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., confronted Hartig, saying, "We've heard a lot of concerning examples as just referenced. Do you have any regrets in your tenure thus far [about] some of the exhibits have been displayed? Do you regret any of the exhibits and if so, which?" Hartig answered, "I am incredibly proud of the work we've done, but we are imperfect and we surely have made mistakes. But I don't have any regrets." Jack pressed further, asking, "Which mistakes would you say you've made?" To which Hartig responded, "There are always factual errors." "One of my favorite, currently," she went on, "is that one of our volunteers has pointed out that we've been mislabeling a coin in the American Presidency exhibit for years, and we were, of co…