President Donald Trump’s war on American institutions rolled on Thursday with a new casualty: the librarian of Congress.
Carla Hayden, the first woman and first Black person to hold the position, was abruptly fired via a two-sentence email that gave no explanation.
“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,” it read, according to The New York Times. “Thank you for your service.”
Hayden, appointed in 2016 by former President Barack Obama, oversaw the library through Trump’s first term and at one point even interviewed now-Vice President JD Vance about his now-controversial book“Hillbilly Elegy.” Her removal is especially jarring given how rarely the Library of Congress changes leadership. Hayden was its first new head since 1987. Before that, she spent decades in Chicago’s library system, rising from librarian to chief.
The backlash was swift. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement on Friday where he called her dismissal “a disgrace,” and described Hayden as “accomplished, principled, and distinguished.”
He added, “Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history, and turn back the clock.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, echoed the outragecalling Hayden “a guardian of truth” and demanding her immediate reinstatement.
The firing is emblematic of Trump’s second term. Since returning to the White House, he’s moved aggressively to assert control over America’s cultural institutions—gutting the Kennedy Center, attacking elite universities, rewriting history, and launching a Full-Scale War on dei.
In March, the administration was caught erasing a reference to Jackie Robinson, the first Black man to play Major League Baseball and a former Army lieutenant, from the Department of Defense website.
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Hayden’s firing fits the same mold. Hours before news of her ouster was announced publicly, a conservative nonprofit, the American Accountability Foundationsmeared her as “radical” and “woke,” writing“The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids. It’s time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!”
On the right, “woke” has become a racial dog whistle typically invoked when Black people or women appear in places they weren’t expected. Hayden’s very presence, it seems, was a provocation.
It’s not the first time she’s faced GOP hostility. As president of the American Library Association, she clashed with the George W. Bush administration over the Patriot Act’s expansion of government surveillance—an episode Republicans raised during her 2016 confirmation hearing.
Founded in 1800the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution and largest library in the world. It’s also the research arm of Congress and home to the U.S. Copyright Office.
When she was first nominated, Hayden called the library a “treasure chest” and spoke of making it more inclusive.
“Being the first female and the first African American really brings together two aspects of, of course, my life that make this even more significant, I think, in terms of how people view the future of libraries and what a national library can be,” Hayden said. “It’s inclusive. It can be a part of everyone’s story.”
Hayden didn’t just lead the institution—she modernized it. And now she’s the latest victim of Trump’s never-ending culture war.
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