Blunt Congratulates Lonnie G. Bunch III on Selection to Lead Smithsonian Institution

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, commended the Smithsonian Institution’s announcement that Lonnie G. Bunch III has been elected as the next Secretary of the Smithsonian:

“Lonnie Bunch has dedicated his career to preserving and sharing our nation’s history, and it’s fitting that he will now be making history as the first African American to lead the Smithsonian Institution. The millions of visitors who experience the Smithsonian each year will continue to benefit from the passion Lonnie Bunch brings to his work as a historian and educator. I congratulate him on his new post and look forward to working with him.”

Bunch will be the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian and the first African American to hold the position. He was the founding director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.