The smithsonian never believed the wright brothers because they paid someone else to be “the first.”
The Smithsonian supported Samuel Langley as first in flight. This so infuriated the Wright Brothers that they lent the original Wright Flyer to the British Museum. It was repatriated in the early days of World War II to prevent it from being damaged in the Blitz. The deed of gift to the Smithsonian stipulates that the if the Smithsonian ever recognizes anyone else as the inventor of controlled power flight, the Wright Flyer will revert to the Wright Brothers estate.