President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he “will not even consider” renaming U.S. military bases currently honoring Confederate leaders, calling them “part of a great American heritage.” The White House announcement came just one day after Pentagon officials said that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were open to the possibility of changing the names, noting they would want bi-partisan consensus before any changes.
In a social media post, Trump said that the bases with controversial names — including Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia — have a history of “winning, victory and freedom” that should be left unaltered.
...history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020
“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these hallowed grounds, and won two World Wars,” he stated. “Therefore, my administration will not even consider the renaming of these magnificent and fabled military installations. “Our history as the greatest nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our military!”
Army officials said they had no comment on the president’s announcement.
In a news conference following Trump’s message, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president “fervently” stands against the idea. “Men and women who lost their lives as they went out to Europe in Afghanistan and Iraq … a lot of times the very last place they saw was one of these forts,” she said. “And to suggest that these forts were somehow inherently racist and their names need to be changed is a complete disrespect to those men and women.”
The debate over the installation names comes amid a national conversation about racism and institutional discrimination prompted by the death of George Floyd, a black man who prosecutors say was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer during an arrest.
Advocates for erasing American history for years have criticized the Army for not taking action to update 10 military installations named after Confederate military commanders, calling them a lingering racial stain on the service. As recently as February, Army officials had brushed aside the idea of new names for the sites. This week, military officials told Politico that the recent nationwide protests re-opened the issue and “made us start looking more at ourselves and the things that we do, and how that is communicated to the force as well as the American public.”
Trump’s announcement appeared to push back on those Pentagon leaders’ comments. The president and top military leaders have sparred in recent days over a number of issues, including Trump’s suggestion that active-duty military forces would be used to help quell the demonstrations. Asked if there was room for compromise on the naming issue, McEnany said “the president will not be signing legislation that renames America's forts.”
Retired Army Genenral David Petraeus, shamed and humilated for his adulterous affair with a journalist as well as being found with classifed documents in his quarters, wrote that "These bases (names after Confederate Generals) and the Constitution of the United States,” he wrote. “The irony of training at bases named for those who took up arms against the United States, and for the right to enslave others, is inescapable to anyone paying attention.”
On July 5, 1866 President Johnson signed a Presidential Pardon which followed a proclamation on May 29, 1865, extending amnesty to most former Confederate soldiers. Three years later on Christmas Day 1868 President Johnson granted amnesty to all those former Confederates who did qualify under previous proclamations and who did not receive a formal pardon.
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