by John Solomon
A House investigative subcommittee is demanding a wide swath of records from the Smithsonian Institution after uncovering a controversial American history museum display that suggested the U.S. military had engaged in “domicide,” the intentional destruction of civilian homes to cause human suffering.
The request came Thursday in a letter from House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee Chairman Tim Burchett, R- Tenn., and Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., and is the latest effort by the GOP-led Congress to stamp out what it sees as woke and inaccurate presentations of American history at the nation’s premier network of museums.
“The Subcommittee is concerned that the Smithsonian has cultivated a scholarly community that supports insinuations that the deliberate destruction of homes to intentionally cause human suffering is intertwined with the military doctrine of the United States,” the lawmakers wrote to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III in the letter obtained by Just the News.
Bunch is set to retire at the end of the year.
Bunch said in a statement, “It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian. I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been. There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together. I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
The lawmakers cited evidence gathered in June by the Smithsonian’s internal watchdog chronicling how an exhibit on New York buildings and architecture got turned into an implied screed against the American military.
“This exhibition was an installation at the Design Triennial, which was originally proposed to showcase 10 New York City buildings compressed into a single room,” the lawmakers wrote. “This originally uncontroversial proposal was turned into a display of homes destroyed by American-made munitions in various military engagements against ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
“Organizers explained they wanted to portray American military doctrine and even America’s founding as being intertwined with “domicide,” defined as ‘the massive and deliberate destruction of homes in order to cause human suffering,'” they added.
The lawmakers also disclosed the Smithsonian has defended such exhibits as historically accurate and seeing it otherwise was a “complicated matter.”
“We must meet our obligations of accuracy and relevance to the public we serve …. We must do so without discouraging inquiry and the creativity of our scholarly community,” the museum wrote the inspector general, according to the letter.
The lawmakers demanded the Smithsonian provide a wide range of documents, including any showing efforts to alter or undercut Directive 603, which was issued “to govern the institution’s review of proposed sensitive exhibits with public interest.”
That directive, the lawmakers wrote, “is instrumental to preserving the Smithsonian’s reputation as a trusted source for Americans.”
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John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
