National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order, 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History'

When President Trump issued his March 27, Executive Order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” it left us with questions as to when and how it would be implemented. We now have an answer to the first question. The answer to the second question, as you will see, is anybody’s guess.

Yesterday, the Secretary of the Interior ordered the National Park Service to, “review public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s (Department) jurisdiction and 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, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing.”

From the very first paragraph, the order reads as an indictment against every employee of the National Park Service and is intended to cast suspicion on the entire agency.

This review process is part of the administration’s efforts to transform agencies, that focus on history, into a propaganda arm of the federal government. The goal is to minimize the amount of serious public history done at NPS sites across the country and instead leverage it as a mouthpiece for the administration’s narrow and self serving understanding of the American past.

At the center of this review is Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the only NPS site referenced by name. This is no accident. Next summer the nation will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and all eyes will be on Philly.

It is telling that the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution has been reduced to just one site, one day, and one document. Such a move makes it easier to ignore the complex history of the Revolution as well as questions that deviate from the narrow goal of highlighting and celebrating the “principles of freedom and democracy set forth in the Declaration of Independence.”

Each NPS site will have 30 days to, “identify any public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties (collectively: properties) on lands within its jurisdiction that have been removed or changed from January 1, 2020.”

Notice that this directive first assumes that changes have been made. I can’t think of a single monument, memorial, statue or marker that has been removed from a NPS site since 2020. But just as problematic is the implicit claim that the NPS has no record keeping system to track changes made at specific parks. Think about that. The Trump administration wants you to believe that Park Service employees have no ability or interest in tracking changes made to their respective parks.

Even more accusatory is the date referenced, which is clearly intended to plant doubt about the conduct of the NPS, specifically during the Biden administration.

Once this first stage is completed, each land management Bureau will have another 60 day to evaluate as to “whether the alteration or removal of each property was made to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history; inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures; or include any other improper partisan ideology.”

Here is where things really go off the deep end.

What exactly is a “false reconstruction of American history”? What exactly does it mean to “inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures?” How will these determinations be made? Who or what group will make these determinations?

I’ve talked to a number of people in the NPS about this order, including a chief historian, and they don’t have the remotest idea of how to proceed or how to answer any of these questions.

As for the next stage in this review process:

Within 90 days of the date of this Order, each land management Bureau shall conduct a review of all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties on lands within its jurisdiction to identify whether any such properties contain images, descriptions, depictions, messages, narratives or other information (content) that inappropriately disparages Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)[.]

Once again, the obvious questions loom over head. What exactly does it mean to “inappropriately disparage Americans”? More problematic, however, is the question of identifying which “Americans past or present” are being referred to in this order. I get the feeling that we are talking about a very specific subset of Americans and I will leave it to you to name it.

Rally at Gettysburg in Support of the National Park Service on June 16.

And finally:

Within 120 days of the date of this Order, each land management Bureau shall remove any content meeting the criteria identified in paragraph 1 or otherwise found to be inconsistent with the purposes of EO 14253. The relevant land management Bureau shall then take action to replace the removed content with content that focuses on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people[.]

I am laughing hysterically as I type this. There is no indication of how to evaluate content that violates the president’s order and now the NPS is essentially left in the dark as to how to go about replacing the problematic content.

Needless to say that none of this language has anything to do with thinking historically or promoting good public history practice. It is pure propaganda and a child’s view of propaganda at that. How embarrassing.

And if that wasn’t enough, the public will have the opportunity to determine whether a NPS site is complying with the president’s order. The following message must be posted at every NPS site to solicit visitor feedback:

(Name of property) belongs to the American people, and (name of land management Bureau) wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas of the park/area, etc. as appropriate) that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement; or (3) any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.

The National Park Service has lost roughly 13% of its workforce since the beginning of the year. The Trump administration intends to cut close to 1 billion dollars from its budget and park staff have been forced to account for their performance in a weekly activity report. Now they have to deal with this insult and complete waste of time.

Let’s be clear. This is not a review. It’s an indictment of the NPS without cause. There is no indication that anyone familiar with the NPS or the work that they do was consulted in the writing of this order.

This report presents the staff at the NPS as rogue public servants bent on undermining the United States, but anyone familiar with how the agency works knows that employees follow structured guidelines and directives that have been carefully articulated through any number of management reports and other documents.

But most importantly, we need to recognize that our NPS friends are dedicated public servants, who believe in its mission. They work for all of us.

NPS staff are no strangers to the politics that surround their jobs. They’ve worked through federal government shutdowns and the many shutdown threats that we’ve seen in recent years as well as budget and employment cutbacks. This feels very different. Many of my friends go to work each day not knowing whether they will have a job even as they wait for the latest attack on their good name by our elected leaders and the next demand on their time just like this one.

I’ve said it before that these people deserve so much better. They deserve our thanks and support.

Through all of this, my friends and their colleagues will go to work today to do the best job that they can to ensure that our national parks get handed down to the next generation.

Whether they will be allowed to do so tomorrow is another story entirely.