Abilene, Kansas

After thirty years as National Park Service and National Archives historian, Todd Arrington was named director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, last year. It was not a job likely to be jeopardized by an election, and not one, Arrington might have imagined, with much potential to land him in trouble with the President or those around him.

He learned better after the library received an odd email request a few weeks before Donald Trump’s September state visit to the United Kingdom. Trump had been invited to stay at Windsor Castle, and the State Department was looking for a gift for Trump to present to King Charles – “like a sword or something,” the email said. After some further nosing around, the State Department’s people decided on a Sword of Honor originally given to Eisenhower by the city of London for his World War Two service.

It fell to Arrington to explain, with regret, that such artifacts were federal property held in public trust. He offered to look around for a suitable substitute, however, and with his help the State Department eventually settled on a replica “Cadet Saber” from West Point.

“We felt very good about the way that everything worked out,” Arrington said in an interview with the Kansas News Service. “It was a great feather in our cap to have helped figure out this gift for the president to present to the king.”

But the good feelings were apparently not shared all around. Less than two weeks after Trump’s return from Britain, Arrington was instructed to “resign or be fired.” The New York Times reported that this directive followed a period of tension between the National Archives and the White House over control of the library’s holdings and plans for a new education center. Colleagues said Arrington’s dismissal sent a chill through the archival community, already wary after years of political friction over document retention and presidential records.

“He followed the law and lost his job for it,” one former National Archives staffer told The Kansas Reflector.

Arrington himself declined to assign blame, saying only that “the request came from above.” His chief concern now was to find a new job, he said, adding: “I have a wife. I have children. I am trying to pick up the pieces and find the next thing. I’ve told everybody I’ve talked to if there was any way to go back to this job, it really was a dream job for me. And if there’s a way to get back to it, I would love to do that. I don’t know if that’s possible, or if anybody would consider that, but that would be my best-case scenario.”

Story posted on October 21, 2025.