In the weeks surrounding America's 250th anniversary, the Trump administration moved to place warning signs inside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, claiming its exhibits distort the national story. The order, framed as a restoration of trust, is the latest chapter in a long human struggle over who holds the authority to name the past — and what that naming means for the present. At stake is not merely the content of museum placards, but the deeper question of whether a nation's memory belongs to its institutions, its elected leaders, or its people.