Departing Smithsonian Secretary

NY Times  -  By the time Lonnie G. Bunch III announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down as the Smithsonian secretary, the White House had made it virtually impossible for him to stay, according to historians and colleagues.

Since the beginning of his second term, President Trump has targeted the Smithsonian with executive orders that accuse the institution of a liberal bias and of planning exhibitions with anti-American viewpoints. The White House has characterized Bunch as “a Democrat donor and rabid partisan.” It did not immediately respond to requests for comment after Mr. Bunch said he would resign.

“He has experienced a mounting pressure campaign as the Smithsonian became a battlefield in the culture wars,” said Samuel J. Redman, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has written extensively about the Smithsonian. “Lonnie Bunch led the Smithsonian with candor, bravery and thoughtfulness that really suggested something about his long experience with the institution, his adept diplomacy — but clearly that could only go so far.