Trump gives like to dozens of likenesses
President champions heroes garden concept
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has a vision for his second term, if he wins one, of establishing a National Garden of American Heroes that will pay tribute to some of the most prominent figures in U.S. history, a collection of “the greatest Americans to ever live.”
His idea, conveyed in a speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore and expanded on in an executive order, comes as elected officials and institutions are reckoning with whether it is appropriate to continue to honor people, including past presidents, who benefited from slavery or espoused racist views, with monuments or buildings and streets named after them.
The group of 30-plus features Founding Fathers and presidents, civil rights pioneers and aviation innovators, explorers and generals.
Trump on Saturday spoke glowingly about his selections as an “incredible group” but added that they “are just a few of the people” he is considering and that his selections “are subject to change.”
“But once we make that decision, those great names are going to be up there, and they’re never coming down,” Trump said in a speech at his Salute for America celebration at the White House to mark Independence Day.
Trump’s list includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham
Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., all already represented on or near the National Mall in Washington, along with Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Billy Graham, Douglas Macarthur, Christa Mcauliffe, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Orville and Wilbur Wright.
But Trump also is looking to put an ideological stamp on the idea of American greatness with the inclusion of conservative stalwart Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court justice.
His executive order says the garden should open before July 4, 2024, and he leaves it up to a federal task force to make recommendations about the use of federal money and a proposed site.