When Lonnie G. Bunch III announced that he would step down as chief of the Smithsonian Institution, many saw the decision as a culmination of President Trump’s pressure campaign against the organization, which oversees nearly two dozen museums.
The White House has called Mr. Bunch, who has led the Smithsonian since 2019, a “rabid partisan.” But after his announcement, scholars came to his defense, with the Organization of American Historians praising Mr. Bunch’s “intellectual rigor” and “political courage.”
The process to select a successor to Mr. Bunch, who the Smithsonian said would stay through the end of the year, will offer Mr. Trump his best chance to exert control over the Smithsonian. Here is what to know about how the institution might choose its next leader.
Who controls the Smithsonian?
Congress created the Smithsonian — the world’s largest museum, education and research complex — in 1846 after James Smithson, a British chemist and mineralogist, died and left his fortune to the establishment of an institution “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge” in the U.S. capital.
Today, it includes 21 museums, libraries, research centers and the National Zoo, many of them on the National Mall in Washington. They range from behemoths like the National Air and Space Museum to small organizations like the Anacostia Community Museum.
The Smithsonian has historically operated independently of the executive branch. It is run by a Board of Regents that oversees strategy, policy, finances, mission and governance.
The board selects a new secretary to lead the Smithsonian.
How does the Smithsonian’s board operate?
There are 17 members of the Board of Regents — a mixture of Republicans and Democrats, drawn from government, business, medicine and academia.
The board includes the vice president, the chief justice of the United States and six members of Congress: three from the House of Representatives and three from the Senate, as required by statute. The chief justice serves as the board’s chancellor.
The board nominates another nine private citizens, who, after congressional confirmation and presidential sign-off, serve no more than two consecutive six-year terms.
What’s the state of the board?
Ever since the Smithsonian was established, board members have cycled off the board after their staggered terms end. Since April, there have been three openings on the board, and by October, the terms of three more members will have expired.
Board members are typically nominated by the regents, confirmed by Congress and signed off on by the president without partisan rancor. But the names of several recent board nominees, which have not been publicly disclosed, have not even made it to Congress — without clear explanation.
Two people with knowledge of the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private decision-making, told The New York Times in July that Vice President JD Vance had delayed action on the names because Mr. Trump hoped to substitute more like-minded candidates.
In an executive order issued in March 2025, Mr. Trump described the Smithsonian as consumed by a “divisive, race-centered ideology” and demanded that the institution be restored to “its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.”
The order called for Mr. Vance to work with the House speaker and the Senate majority leader, both Republicans, “to seek the appointment of citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of this order.”
How has the selection process gone before?
When seeking a new leader in the past, the Smithsonian board has created a search committee and enlisted outside consulting firms.
When Mr. Bunch was appointed in 2019, it was the first time in 74 years that a director of a Smithsonian museum had been selected to lead the entire institution. Mr. Bunch was the founding director of the institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and had worked at its National Museum of American History.
He was appointed as secretary after a search by an 11-person committee led by David Rubenstein, who was the chairman of the Smithsonian’s board at the time, and Steve Case, who was then its vice chairman.
Mr. Bunch replaced David J. Skorton, a cardiologist and former president of Cornell, who after leaving the Smithsonian returned to health care as the president of a nonprofit.
Dr. Skorton succeeded G. Wayne Clough, another former university president.
Have the names of any leading candidates surfaced?
The Smithsonian has not revealed any potential candidates to replace Mr. Bunch, and no names have publicly surfaced so far.
In a statement at the time of Mr. Bunch’s announcement, the Smithsonian said, “In due course, the board will announce an acting secretary and begin a national search for his successor.”
Graham Bowley and Jennifer Schuessler contributed reporting.
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