Trump Fires Library of Congress Chief Carla Hayden, Citing DEI

The Washington Post

11:44 JST, May 11, 2025

President Donald Trump on Thursday fired the head of the Library of Congress, Carla Hayden, the first woman and first African American to lead the world’s largest library. She was informed of the decision in a terse, two-sentence email.

“Carla,” read the message from the White House deputy director of presidential personnel, Trent Morse. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

The Library of Congress has thousands of employees and archives more than 178 million items, including rare books, medieval manuscripts, a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and a perfect vellum copy of the Gutenberg Bible. As its chief librarian since 2016, Hayden also appointed U.S. poets laureate and oversaw the Congressional Research Service and the Copyright Office.

“There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a news conference Friday, referring to Trump’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government. “We don’t believe that she was serving the interests of the American taxpayer well, so she has been removed from her position, and the president is well within his rights to do that.”

Hayden had been appointed to a 10-year term by former president Barack Obama, which was set to expire next year. It was not immediately clear which of Hayden’s policies the White House took issue with, but like many other U.S. cultural institutions, the library had increased its outreach to minority communities in recent years. “The collections of the Library of Congress tell the rich and diverse story of LGBTQ+ life in America and around the world,” reads a research guide on the library’s website. And Hayden has talked to The Washington Post about how U.S. curriculum used to severely downplay slavery and Black history.

“It’s unheard of,” John Cole, a former historian of the Library of Congress who worked there for more than 50 years, said of Hayden’s firing.

Cole said Trump hadn’t shown as much interest in the library as past presidents, so many staff didn’t think the president would appoint a new librarian until next year when Hayden’s term ended. “There was no way we were going to avoid this Trump crisis with the library,” he said. “But it sure surprised me that it happened the way it did.”

The firing seemed to surprise staff, too. In an internal email late Thursday, principal deputy librarian Robert Newlen said that he would assume the duties of acting librarian of Congress until he received further instruction. “I want you to hear it from me first,” Newlen wrote, promising to “keep everyone informed.”

Newlen sent another email Friday morning, praising his predecessor for her efforts to expand the library’s exposure to the public, including by “inaugurating an urgent effort to rapidly digitize as many of our collections as possible” – and by interviewing Kermit the Frog.

“She has been widely recognized as an unbiased, nonpartisan and energetic servant to the United States Congress,” he wrote, and added elsewhere: “She has achieved a level of popularity and acclaim that is surely unfamiliar to most librarians.”

Indeed, Hayden got a hero’s send-off in Baltimore in 2016 when she stepped down after 23 years leading its public library system to take over the Library of Congress. She was the first librarian by profession to be appointed to the job in decades; typically, the post goes to historians and scholars.

But her Senate confirmation to the post was held up for weeks, as Hayden faced criticism from Republicans over her stint as president of the American Library Association in the early 2000s. In that job, she had publicly sparred with President George W. Bush’s Attorney General John Ashcroft over parts of the Patriot Act, the law that expanded government surveillance powers in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Hayden also opposed a law that required libraries receiving federal funding to install internet filters that blocked pornography.

Some conservatives attacked her as an “activist librarian” and a “quota hire,” foreshadowing Trump’s ongoing efforts to purge the government of diversity initiatives and attack Black officials.

In recent days, a conservative advocacy organization, the American Accountability Foundation, had criticized Hayden as “woke” on social media. The organization’s director says it researches and identifies nonpartisan appointees who it suspects will resist Trump’s policy goals, The Post has reported.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, denounced Hayden’s firing in a statement to The Washington Post. “With this decision, Donald Trump continues his attempts to censor our history, bend our culture to his will, and interfere with the free flow of information among the American people. It is a national disgrace,” he said.

His concerns were echoed by many Democrats and others. Three U.S. poets laureate appointed by Hayden – Ada Limón, Joy Harjo and Tracy K. Smith – condemned the firing Friday, according to the Associated Press. Producers of the Broadway musical “Dead Outlaw” canceled an upcoming performance at the library and released a statement praising Hayden as “a fierce advocate for preserving America’s cultural memory and a great champion of the Broadway community.”

The Library of Congress was founded in 1800 by the second U.S. president, John Adams, who sought to essentially make a law library for congressmen. It evolved into a repository for the entire country, visited by 1.5 million tourists every year. The library is now one of the most recognizable cultural institutions, featured in films like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “All the President’s Men” and “National Treasure.”

Its responsibilities go far beyond preservation and book classification. The library’s Congressional Research Service practically functions as a nonpartisan think tank, providing research and analysis to lawmakers for national policymaking. It keeps public and nonpublic papers from dozens of Supreme Court justices, as well as top-secret military records. And its Copyright Office reviews hundreds of thousands of applications each year, advises Congress on intellectual property issues and sets regulations across the country.

The librarian, who is picked by the president and confirmed by the Senate, is one of the rare executives who doesn’t normally leave with the outgoing administration. The position was considered a lifetime appointment before an Obama-era law imposed a 10-year term with an option for reappointment. Hayden’s term was set to expire in 2026.

Before Hayden, two librarians had been replaced by incoming presidents. Andrew Jackson replaced George Watterston in 1829. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln replaced John Silva Meehan with a political supporter, John G. Stephenson.