Smithsonian director expresses no regrets after Ben Franklin exhibit controversy
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The director of the nation’s premier American history museum says he has no regrets about any of the museum’s exhibits during his tenure, after an expert confronted him with a “shocking” exhibit that he said implicated founding father Benjamin Franklin.
Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, faced intense questioning from lawmakers during two hearings on Capitol Hill this week. The hearings followed a White House Domestic Policy Council report that accused the museum of using taxpayer money and the museum’s status as a world-renowned institution to promote “radical activist ideology.”
At Tuesday’s House hearing, Heritage Foundation expert Mike Gonzalez testified that the multi-year special exhibit, titled “Electricity Dr. Franklin,” includes an exhibit that “ponders whether he ever conducted experiments, electrical electroshock, on indentured servants or slaves.” Gonzalez stated that this suggestion, which he described as “shocking”, was included in the exhibition “without providing any evidence”.
“Why would you tarnish a founding father like Ben Franklin by considering something so outlandish?” Gonzalez said. he asked.
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Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig (right) was questioned by House lawmakers about the controversy surrounding the museum; including an exhibit that one expert said amounted to a “libel” against founding father Benjamin Franklin. (GraphicaArtis/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Immediately after Gonzalez’s testimony, Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., confronted Hartig and said: “We’ve heard a lot of the concerning examples just referenced. Do you have any regrets so far during your tenure?” [about] Have some of the exhibits been displayed? Do you regret any of the exhibits, and if so, which one?”
Hartig responded: “I’m incredibly proud of the work we did, but we’re imperfect and we’ve certainly made mistakes. But I have no regrets.”
Jack pressed further and asked: “What mistakes would you say you made?”
Hartig’s response was: “There are always factual errors.”
“One of my favorite things right now,” he continued, “is when one of our volunteers pointed out that we had mislabeled a coin in the American Presidency exhibit for years, and of course we were a little embarrassed about it, but we fixed it.”
Hartig became director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in February 2019. The Benjamin Franklin exhibit opened to the public in 2021 and remained on display until 2025.
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National Museum of American History Director Dr. Anthea Hartig is sworn in during the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing on Ensuring Government Efficiency held on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The museum currently has a web page with expanded materials from the exhibition. The site notes: “Researchers have also used humans as conductors to determine how far an electric charge could travel and whether electrical effects would diminish with distance. Franklin wrote about experiments in which he received shocks and used family and friends in these ways, but he rarely identified who specifically helped him. Indentured servants and enslaved people in his household may also have been used, but we may never know for sure.”
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History has become an institution of taxpayer-supported “ideological capture” and “extreme political activism,” a comprehensive new report from the White House has concluded.
According to the 162-page report “Restoring Truth and Sanity in American History,” published on America’s 250th birthday, NMAH treats the American story as a political tool rather than a shared national heritage.
The White House Domestic Policy Council wrote that “the Smithsonian Institution, and especially the National Museum of American History, under its current leadership and its current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”
Additionally, “at the intent and direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, NMAH has been subject to institutional takeover by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love,” the report said.
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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is being called out for being ‘ideologically hijacked’ and evoking revisionist history on the weekend of America’s 250th birthday. (Kevin Carter)
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In his testimony Tuesday, Hartig said: “The Smithsonian takes seriously the concerns raised in the White House Domestic Policy Advisor’s report, and while we continue to fact-check the report, we unhesitatingly affirm that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the body of work at the museum.”
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“There is always room for improvement, but I also know the beauty, inspiration and expertise that lies in our collections, exhibitions and programs.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American History and Gonzalez for additional comment.
