For more than a decade, prominent scientists across disciplines and institutions in the United States have expressed concerns about the quality of the nation’s science and, in the best scientific tradition, called for self-correction. That is why the fiercely negative reaction of some members of the scientific establishment to last month’s Restoring Gold Standard Science executive order from President Trump comes as a surprise to some. The order, after all, aims to address these long-standing concerns about the impact, conduct, and public trust of science. As the just-released White House guidance memorandum for federal research agencies on implementing Gold Standard Science makes clear, the intent of this action is to bring the nation’s research enterprise into alignment with the high standards that the scientific community has long set for itself.