Retiring Smithsonian head Lonnie G. Bunch III: “You can run from history, but you can’t hide”

September 20, 2026 / 9:48 AM EDT / CBS News

When Lonnie G. Bunch III walks through the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., his love of history is on full display. "I just love this museum so much," he said.

One of his favorite pieces: The 1903 Wright Brothers' flyer, the first successfully-flown powered airplane. "I was in North Carolina, Kitty Hawk, and went to see the replica, and I wanted to say, 'We got the real one!'" he laughed. "And it's here in the Smithsonian, so that forever, people are going to be able to say, 'Oh, my goodness,' and really sort of begin to understand the creativity and the joy that is incumbent in the American spirit."

As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Bunch runs the place, overseeing 20 museums and the National Zoo. But it was the Air and Space Museum that launched his career nearly 50 years ago when he was hired by the museum's then-director, former Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins.

Asked what Collins saw in the 25-year-old historian, Bunch replied, "I think he probably saw passion. I cared so much about history. I didn't understand what I was going to…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/