Culture Wars in the Nation's Attic

Abstract

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum and research complex, encompassing 18 museums and galleries, along with the National Zoo and nine research centres. Despite statements from friendly chroniclers that the Smithsonian Institution has always been relatively free of political pressures, and the Smithsonian's own statement that it was an independent federal establishment, politics has always been a consideration in the Smithsonian's work. The statutory requirement that members of Congress serve as members of the Institution's Board of Regents has influenced its activities as well as providing a measure of protection when controversies arose. In addition, congressional deference to the scientific and academic missions of the Smithsonian, along with Congress’ acceptance of the Smithsonian's inclination to accept private monies outside the congressional appropriation process, had, for many years, permitted the Institution to operate with a measure of independence. The Smithsonian's shift, however, from chief executive officers, or Secretaries, trained in the sciences, to those more business orientated has led to a series of missteps affecting the very essence of the Institution. In recent years, moreover, commencing with the controversies surrounding the Smithsonian's proposed interpretation of the Enola Gay exhibition, and continuing through uproars concerning politically sensitive exhibits regarding the Alaska wilderness and global warming, the Institution has now moved to rein in its more controversial aspects, and has determined to be a business friendly collection of family museums, inoffensive to the majority of the House and the Senate.