(WASHINGTON) -- Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch is stepping down from his position, the institution said Tuesday, after seven years of leading the world's largest museum, education and research complex.
"I have fought for as long as I can. I love this country and I love the Smithsonian and I will always work to defend our more perfect Union," Bunch told ABC News in a statement, confirming his resignation on Tuesday.
Bunch's resignation comes amid mounting attacks against the Smithsonian from the Trump administration, which has accused Smithsonian leadership of presenting a "radical view" of American history and threatening to withhold federal funds and support.
“It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian,” Bunch said in a statement. “I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been. There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together. I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Bunch, who has been a part of the Smithsonian Institution for the past 38 years, was named secretary in June 2019, making him the first African American and first historian to serve in the role. Bunch did not reference the ongoing attacks from the White House in his parting statement.
“It is time for my next chapter, a chapter that will allow me to continue to protect the integrity of the Smithsonian and to champion the importance of a history that illuminates and celebrates the complex story of our nation,” Bunch said. “The Smithsonian has been a reservoir of science, history, art and culture that freely allows the public to find knowledge, understanding, clarity, education, hope and a bit of joy. I will always carry the Smithsonian within me.”
Bunch reflected on his legacy in a July interview with ABC News to mark America's 250th birthday.
Asked about the White House's criticism of the Smithsonian, Bunch said, “I think that for me it’s -- I'm always open to any criticism, any comments. We want to be in the best institutions we can be."
He added, "But I feel very strongly that a nation has to understand the totality of its past, the complexity of its past, in order to understand greatness of a nation."
In July, the White House released a scathing 162-page report accusing the Smithsonian Institution of engaging in "extreme political activism" and presenting "a radical view of American history."
The report, which was published by the White House Domestic Policy Council, took aim at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH), accusing its leadership of adopting "an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens."
The report came amid a review of the Smithsonian that was launched in response to President Donald Trump's March 27, 2025, executive order, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History."
The executive order directed Vice President J.D. Vance, in consultation with the president's advisers on domestic policy, "to remove improper ideology" from Smithsonian institutions, arguing that materials that cast America in a "negative light" have no place in federal cultural institutions.
Amid escalating attacks from the White House, NMAH Director Anthea Hartig became the first Smithsonian official in July to testify on the issue before Congress.
In her testimony, Hartig pushed back against the White House July 4 report, asserting that the museum "does not take sides" in political debates.
"Our work is governed by the Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship," Hartig said in her opening remarks before a House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency. "The museum does not take sides in America's political debates. We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions."
Bunch, who met with Trump at the White House last August, has repeatedly affirmed the Smithsonian's "independence" from political influence.
Referencing his conversations with Trump in a September 2025 letter to the institution's employees, Bunch underscored the independence of the Smithsonian, saying it was "paramount." He also told employees that the institution remains committed to telling the "American story" and "will always be, a place that welcomes all Americans and the world."
The Smithsonian is overseen by a 17-member governing body, known as the Board of Regents.
Franklin D. Raines, chair of the Board of Regents, said board members will announce an acting secretary as they begin a national search for Bunch's successor.
"I have had the honor of working with Lonnie Bunch for more than two decades, first when he was the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and ultimately when he became the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian," Raines said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have seen firsthand how Secretary Bunch’s leadership of our 21 museums and the National Zoo has illuminated the nation’s past, opened pathways to new knowledge and powered creativity and innovation."
ABC News' Kyra Phillips and John Santucci contributed to this report.