Smithsonian secretary announces retirement amid White House pressure campaign

Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced he will retire as head of the Smithsonian Institution at the end of this year. Bunch, the first Black person to lead the organisation, has run the world's largest museum group since 2019. During his time there, he often disagreed with the Trump administration about how American history should be shown in the museums. The White House criticised the museums for what it called extreme political activism and threatened to cut their funding. In August, the administration warned it might stop working with the Smithsonian if its leadership did not change. Bunch has said in several interviews that this pressure did not affect his decision to leave. The Smithsonian receives part of its money from the federal government.