Challengers unpleased with Restore Truth and Sanity to American History directive

In Florida’s national parks that detail slavery and other controversial topics, Historic City News has learned that certain exhibits have been flagged for review by the National Park Service under a presidential directive called “Restore Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The directive, issued by President Donald Trump in March, orders the removal of content that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living”. It required all national parks to post QR codes, inviting visitors to report content they believe portrays American history or landscapes in a negative light.

“Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments in St. Augustine, and the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve in Jacksonville, have had comments flagged and have submitted materials for review,” said Vanessa Trujillo, Ph.D., Regional Conservation Program Manager with the National Parks Conservation Association. 

The Washington, DC, based non-profit has taken the position that the president’s executive order, aimed at scrubbing National Parks of information deemed to be disparaging, is reshaping what visitors learn — and will “jeopardize our cultural and natural history.”

Although Trujillo and her non-profit organization warn that the president’s executive order might pressure staff and interfere with their work or affect the experience of visitors, an official statement from Elizabeth Peace, Senior Public Affairs Specialist at the Department of the Interior, said the review process is “deliberate” and thorough. Peace added, “This effort reinforces our commitment to telling the full and accurate story of our nation’s past.”

• At Castillo de San Marcos, panels describing the imprisonment of Plains tribes, including Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche and Caddo people, were sent to be reviewed because language about forced assimilation could be seen as critical of United States history.

• Other exhibits flagged include a panel in the Fort Matanzas National Monument in St. Augustine detailing the 1812 “Patriot War,” when Americans plotted to seize Spanish Florida. The panel was flagged to determine whether it painted the United States in a negative light.

Trujillo says that parks provide an immersive educational experience, teaching difficult topics like slavery, racism, and climate change, and that sanitizing these narratives diminishes public understanding.

“Censoring history doesn’t protect us, it divides us.  These stories may be difficult to hear, but they’re vital to understanding who we are and how we move forward together as a nation,” Trujillo says.

At the start of President Trump’s second term in February, the administration terminated over a thousand National Park staff without warning, a mass staffing cut part of a broader government initiative to cut federal spending that sparked a national outcry online.

“Staff at our national parks must choose between doing their jobs with integrity, or facing professional consequences potentially for not aligning with these political directives,” Trujillo says. “And it’s not just about the signage or Ranger talks, it’s about whether we allow politics to dictate what truth the public is allowed to hear in our national parks.”

The deadline for staff to complete a review of monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties was June 20th, with the review of public-facing content to be submitted July 18th.

“These policies make it harder for park staff to do their job and harder for visitors to have the meaningful once in a lifetime experience that they expect. National Park should be places where truth is honored and not silenced,” Trujillo added.

Under the 1916 Organic Act and the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, the National Park Service is legally required to preserve, protect, and interpret American history.  More than two-thirds of the country’s 433 national park sites are dedicated to history and culture, managing over 26,000 historic structures and nearly 185 million artifacts.