Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch to Step Down at Year's End

Smithsonian Institution head Lonnie G. Bunch III announced he will step down at the end of 2026 after more than a year of criticism from President Trump.

Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Smithsonian Institution's top official, announced that he will step down from his role at the end of the year. Bunch has spent nearly four decades with the organization, beginning as a curator before taking over as its head in 2019. His departure comes after more than a year of public criticism from President Trump directed at the institution, though Bunch has denied that any such pressure influenced his decision.

Bunch made history as both the first African American and the first historian to lead the Smithsonian. The announcement lands amid sustained tension with the White House: President Trump called in August 2025 for a comprehensive internal review of eight Smithsonian museums and directed them to "celebrate American exceptionalism," and in July 2026 the administration accused the National Museum of American History of "extreme political activism." NPR reports that the administration has attempted to portray the Smithsonian as a group of radical activists.

Bunch has said one of his goals leading the institution was to encourage Americans to embrace ambiguity and recognize that America is a complicated, multifaceted nation. Before leading the Smithsonian, he spent more than a decade as founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, developing its collection from the ground up.

The search for Bunch's successor begins with the institution still under scrutiny from a president who has repeatedly attacked its programming and curatorial independence. Whoever takes over will inherit both the internal review of eight museums ordered in 2025 and the ongoing accusations of political activism leveled against its history museum, making the choice of new leadership a test of whether the Smithsonian's traditional independence survives the current political climate.