Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced Tuesday that he will step down from his post by the end of the year, ending a seven-year tenure that included the final stretch fending off sustained pressure from the Trump administration, according to ABC News and NBC News. Bunch, 73, is the first Black person and first trained historian to lead the 178-year-old institution.

Bunch rose to national prominence as the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture before being named the institution's 14th Secretary in 2019. In that role he became the public face of the Smithsonian's response to a Trump administration campaign that has repeatedly criticized how its museums portray American history, with the Interior Department at one point threatening to cut off support over allegations that Smithsonian exhibits present a "radical ideology" that weakens "shared American identity."

"I Had to Stay"

Bunch told The Washington Post that he had actually considered retiring roughly a year earlier, but felt an obligation to remain in place to defend the institution while it was under fire. He said explicitly that the administration's pressure campaign was not what ultimately pushed him toward the exit now — he described the timing as personal, driven by a wish to spend more time with family, rather than a capitulation to political attacks.

THE FIRST BLACK PERSON AND FIRST HISTORIAN TO LEAD THE INSTITUTION

Even so, the announcement lands at a fraught moment for the Smithsonian, which oversees 21 museums, the National Zoo and numerous research centers, and has increasingly become a flashpoint in the broader political fight over how American history is taught and displayed. Bunch's departure raises immediate questions about who the Board of Regents will choose as a successor and whether that person will continue his approach of engaging with critics while defending curatorial independence, or take a different tack under continued White House scrutiny.

Colleagues and historians have credited Bunch with dramatically expanding the Smithsonian's programming on African American history since the African American history museum opened on the National Mall in 2016, an opening widely regarded as one of the most significant museum launches in a generation. Tributes poured in from museum professionals and lawmakers Tuesday praising his tenure, even as the political battle over the institution's direction shows no sign of cooling.

The Smithsonian's Board of Regents is expected to begin a search process for Bunch's successor in the coming months; no interim timeline has been publicly announced.