Trump Nominates New Chairman for the National Endowment for the Humanities

President Donald Trump on Friday nominated Jon Parrish Peede as chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, bringing to an end speculation about who would take the helm at an agency he has repeatedly targeted for elimination.

Peede, a scholar of Southern literature by training, was publisher of the Virginia Quarterly Review from 2011-2016, and has also worked in various capacities at the National Endowment for the Arts, the humanities endowment’s sister agency. He has been serving as the agency’s acting director since May, when William D. Adams, an Obama appointee, stepped down, citing personal reasons and a desire to let the transition go forward.

In a statement, Peede, who has already created a new set of NEH grants focused on infrastructure needs at cultural institutions, summed up his mission as “ensuring that all Americans have access to our country’s cultural resources.”

The NEH, along with the arts endowment, has been the site of ideological battles since the culture wars of the early 1990s, with conservatives often accusing it of pushing a left-wing agenda.

While such overt conflict has largely died down, Trump last year proposed eliminating its roughly $150 million annual budget entirely, along with that of the National Endowment of the Arts. Congress rebuffed the attempt, and funding for both agencies was renewed. But in February, the administration released a budget for fiscal year 2019 that included $42 million for “orderly closure” of the agency, as well as calling for closure of the arts endowment and the Center for Public Broadcasting.

The appointment of Peede, a brother of Robert Peede, a former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence who in September was named head of Trump’s advance operations, was seen by some scholars as a hopeful sign.

James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, praised Peede’s “deep commitment to the humanities and the work of the NEH” in an email.

“He has worked collegially with humanities scholars and state humanities councils, and made it clear to all of us that his door is open to conversation and debate,” Grossman said.