Capitol Commentary

Bruce Craig, Director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History

New Director Appointed for National Museum of American History

Brent D. Glass, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, has been selected by Smithsonian officials as the new Director of the National Museum of American History (NMAH). Glass is well-known in the historic preservation and museum profession, has a reputation of being a capable administrator, and possesses strong credentials in the history of industry and technology, urban history, and the history of American cultural institutions.

According to Sheila P. Burke, undersecretary for American Museums and National Programs, "the search for the director has been a lengthy and painstaking process. In selecting Dr. Glass, I found most compelling his depth and range of experience in developing new programs and expanding existing facilities and his commitment to digital initiatives. He has dealt frequently with numerous examples of organizational change and transition, and this experience will serve him well as the Museum embarks upon a major program of renovation, redesign, and exhibition enhancement."

Over the last fifteen years Glass managed one of the largest and most comprehensive state history programs in the country. He oversaw twenty-five historical sites and museums, the state Historic Preservation Office, as well as public history programs and the state's historical publications program. Prior to becoming executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1987, Glass was executive director of the North Carolina Humanities Council. His Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Teaching American History" Staff Changes

In a move to combine scattered programs in the Department of Education (DOE) and to better implement President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" initiative, Secretary Rod Paige announced that effective 1 October 2002 a reorganization of the DOE will result in the creation of two new offices: the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools will help insure that schools are free of violence, drug and alcohol use, and foster good character and citizenship; and The Office of Innovation and Improvement will run the DOE's experimental and discretionary programs. The Office of Innovation and Improvement will centralize some thirty experimental and pilot programs, including "Teaching American History," which were scattered either within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education or the Office of Education Research and Improvement. The new office will be headed by Nina Shokraii Rees, a former domestic policy advisor to Vice-President Cheney. At the White House, Rees served as an advisor to the vice president on education, race, welfare, and other issues. Prior to joining the administration, she served as an education advisor to the Bush presidential campaign. Joseph Conaty and Robert M. Stonehill, two top DOE officials in the Office of Academic Improvement and Demonstration Programs who have shown strong support for the "Teaching American History" initiative, will no longer be involved in the program.

Congress Acts On Homeland Security Department Bill--No Great News For Historians

Shortly before Congress began its traditional summer recess, the House passed its version of legislation (H.R. 5005) designed to create a new Department of Homeland Security. In spite of efforts by several members of the Government Reform Committee to statutorily establish a history office in the new department, no such language was written into the final House passed measure. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN), the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, continues to explore the possibility of inserting statutory language in the Senate version of the Department of Homeland Security Bill (S. 2794) creating a history office.

In a letter to the NCC, however, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, chair of the Committee on Governmental Affairs stated that "not all of the functions necessary to improve homeland security will be addressed in this legislation," and that the proposal for a history office is better addressed in a Senate proposal "that requires the Secretary [of the new Homeland Security Department] to conduct a study of additional functions and reorganizations which might be necessary for the Department to fulfill its mission . . . I believe that your proposal would best be considered at that time."

The challenge for lawmakers in both the House and Senate is a lack of precedent--virtually no history offices have been created by statute at either the departmental or agency level. In most cases, such offices have been created by departmental order or directive.

Presidential Records Update

While Representative Dan Burton (R-IN), chair of the House Committee on Government Reform, remains "undeterred" in his challenge to the Bush Executive Order 13233 ("Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act") that established new administrative procedures for implementing the 1978 Presidential Records Act (PRA), the press of other pending business as the 107th Congress comes to a close appears to have doomed action to nullify the executive order. The House Committee on Government Reform did move the bill on 9 October bluntly stating that the Executive Order was "an affront to the citizens of this country," but action by the full House seems unlikely given the press of other pending legislative measures. However, the lawsuit filed by Public Citizen--a Washington D.C., based nonprofit advocacy group--on behalf of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association and other historical, archives, and media groups, continues, and is very much alive.

The plaintiffs maintain that the Bush executive order jeopardizes access to presidential records. The status of the lawsuit is not affected by the inaction of Congress or by the fact that the Reagan-era presidential records that originally gave rise to the suit have finally been released by the White House. Plaintiffs are now merely waiting for the judge hearing the case to schedule oral arguments. The case is expected to be heard in the late fall.

Robert V. Remini to Write History of the House Of Representatives

The Library of Congress announced that historian Robert V. Remini has been selected to research and write a U.S. House of Representatives narrative history authorized by Congress in 1999 under the House Awareness and Preservation Act (P.L. 106-99).

Remini will serve as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar of American History in the recently-created John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. According to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, "In addition to being a first-rate writer and historian, Remini understands the history of the workings of Congress, which is invaluable for this effort."

When reached for comment, Remini stated that in its two-hundred-year history, the House of Representatives has had, "many distinguished, diligent, colorful, and larger-than-life personalities" who "debated, quarreled and helped hammer out the nation's laws. I fully intend to write a narrative history of this extraordinary institution with its vivid and sometime outrageous personalities, one that will capture all the excitement and drama that took place during the past two hundred years so that the record of its triumphs, achievements, mistakes, and failures can be better known and appreciated by the American people."

Remini, Professor Emeritus of History and the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been teaching history for more than fifty years and writing books about American history for nearly as long. In addition to his three-volume biography of Andrew Jackson, he is the author of biographies of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams, as well as a dozen other books on Jacksonian America.

9/11 Memorial Legislation Signed Into Law

President George W. Bush has signed a measure (P.L. 107-226) designed to memorialize the events of 9/11 through the creation of a national historic site in the farm field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after a struggle between passengers and hijackers. As a tribute to those "citizen-soldiers," on the morning of September 11, the United States Senate passed the "Flight 93 National Memorial Act" (H.R. 3917/S. 2136) and sent the measure on to the President for signature.

The legislation seeks to establish a national memorial at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 to honor the passengers and crew who "thwarted a planned attack on the Nation's Capitol." To this end, an advisory commission will be established to assist with the planning for a permanent memorial. The commission will consist of fifteen members including the director of the National Park Service, with the other members appointed by the secretary of the Interior.

The commission is to report on its recommendations within three years. Until that time the secretary is authorized to assist in the process of assembling a museum collection and archives, in an oral history program, and in the design of exhibits. Once land has been acquired from willing sellers, the area is to be administered as a unit of the National Park System.

Smithsonian Visitation Plummets, Donor Solicitation Underway

According to recently released statistics, the Smithsonian Institution has had a disastrous summer in terms of public visitation. The latest reports demonstrate that over the last seven months, some six million fewer people visited the collection of sixteen museums representing a twenty-nine-percent drop in overall visitation. The attendance slump has also resulted in a twelve-percent drop in sales in the various Smithsonian gift shops and restaurants, creating a serious funding shortfall for the institution. To help counter the revenue drop, museum officials have launched a direct-mail donor solicitation campaign.

According to Smithsonian officials, each year the Smithsonian development department makes an appeal to potential donors urging them to make "special gift" and end-of-year contributions to the institution. This year the focus of one such appeal centers around the events of 9/11.

According to the fundraising letter being mailed to patrons, museum supporters, and other names captured from cause-related marketing mailing lists purchased and/or traded by the Smithsonian, Secretary Lawrence Small stated that the Smithsonian is facing a "$13 million loss in net revenues this fiscal year." Consequently, he noted, "the attacks and their aftermath have dramatically wounded the Smithsonian in a way we could never have anticipated. . . . At risk are innovative exhibitions, critical research programs, educational initiatives, and popular public programs."