Kim Sajet, the director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, stepped down from her role Friday, two weeks after President Donald Trump said on social media that he had fired her.
The resignation stunned leaders in the museum world, who had been relieved earlier this week when the body overseeing the Smithsonian Institution affirmed that only its secretary could hire and fire museum leaders.
Sajet’s decision was revealed in an internal email sent just before noon to Smithsonian staff. In it, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III wrote, “We are grateful to Kim for leading the National Portrait Gallery with passion and creativity for 12 years.”
Bunch highlighted how Sajet had expanded the gallery’s collection with “key acquisitions,” such as the earliest known daguerreotype of first lady Dolley Madison. He added: “Her decision to put the museum first is to be applauded and appreciated. I know this was not an easy decision.”
The email also included a message from Sajet, calling it the “honor of a lifetime” to lead the National Portrait Gallery. She wrote: “Together, we have worked to tell a fuller, more American story — one that fosters connection, reflection, and understanding.”
Bunch said Kevin Gover, the Smithsonian’s undersecretary for museums and culture, will serve as acting director of the National Portrait Gallery.
With museum staffers working remotely Friday because of preparations for the military parade in Washington, Sajet revealed her departure at a Zoom meeting attended by more than 50 people, including Gover. According to someone who attended the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, staff members were in tears and praised Sajet’s leadership and her support for their work and careers.
Sajet spoke of her love of the institution and its mission, the person said, and she explained that she was resigning because her presence had become a distraction from the Smithsonian’s mission.
Responding to news of Sajet’s resignation, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement: “On day one, President Trump made clear that there is no place for dangerous anti-American ideology in our government and institutions. In align with this objective, he ordered the termination of Kim Sajet. The Trump Administration is committed to restoring American greatness and celebrating our nation’s proud history.”
Trump said May 30 that he had fired Sajet, without citing any legal authority for doing so. Trump called her a “highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.” Congressional Democrats called the move “unacceptable,” asserting that the president did not have the power to fire employees of the Smithsonian.
Throughout early June, Sajet had continued reporting for work as usual, setting up a standoff between the White House and the Smithsonian.
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents met June 2, according to a listing posted to its website, with a single item on the agenda: “Confidential Personnel Matters.” The board convened again a week later, and after an all-day meeting — without directly mentioning the standoff between the White House and Sajet — issued a statement saying that “all personnel decisions” are directed by Bunch, who oversees the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo. The board also said it supported Bunch’s “authority and management” of the institution.
The board said it had directed Bunch to “articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums” and to “report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes.”
The attempt to dismiss Sajet was the first action Trump had taken against the Smithsonian since the executive order he signed in March directing Vice President JD Vance, an ex officio member of the Smithsonian’s board, to scrutinize the Smithsonian, which the order said had fallen under the influence of “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
And museum leaders, who had taken heart at Sajet and the Smithsonian’s initial resistance to Trump’s directive, were left to speculate on what her exit would mean for the long-term independence of the institution.
“What I fear is that Trump will notch this up as another victory, the same kind of victory as taking over the Kennedy Center,” said David Ross, the former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Following Trump’s moves to influence or assert control over numerous cultural institutions and just before a military parade on the Army’s and the president’s birthday, Ross added, “It’s sad but it’s also an understandable part of the theater of fascism he’s so deeply engaged in.”
Others wondered about the long-term implications for the Smithsonian’s collections. Lynda Lanker, the wife of late photojournalist Brian Lanker, was thrilled in 2022 to attend the opening of his exhibition featuring portraits of Black women. With Sajet’s resignation, she is thinking about the 75 works that were partially gifted to the National Portrait Gallery, as well as the wide swath of materials in the Smithsonian’s collections that may fall under the Trump administration’s attack on whatever it considers to be DEI, shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“I’m almost afraid to say anything that will give him an idea to get rid of it,” Lanker said. “I just hope and pray that it stays intact.”
When Sajet was named director in 2013, she became the first woman to lead the National Portrait Gallery. She worked to broaden the museum’s holdings, and early in her tenure, started up a new performance art series and created a show on the artist and activist Dolores Huerta, the first time a Latina was featured in the gallery’s long-running “One Life” series.
“I’m not good at safe,” Sajet told The Washington Post in an interview in 2015. “I’m very much about experimentation. I came in and said: ‘You know, nothing is a sacred cow. Let’s look at breaking down the hierarchies, experimenting and piloting things.’”
Following Trump’s original message about firing Sajet, the White House shared with The Post 17 examples it said supported the president’s claims about her, including her donations to Democratic presidential candidates and past interviews about expanding the gallery’s representation.
Gover, the Portrait Gallery’s new interim leader, had served as director of the National Museum of the American Indian from 2007 until January 2021.
Through a spokesperson, the Smithsonian declined to offer additional comment. Sajet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maura Judkis and Janay Kingsberry contributed to this report.
The post National Portrait Gallery head steps down following Trump attempt to fire her appeared first on Washington Post.
