Trump’s Push to Restore American ‘Heroes’ Gets $30 Million Boost

Buried beneath his fights to tame the federal bureaucracy, deport illegal immigrants and rewrite environmental policy is President Trump’s quiet pursuit of a longtime passion: reviving traditional views of American history and its heroes.

Executive orders have sent officials scrambling to restore monuments torn down by Black Lives Matter protests, to create a sculpture garden celebrating “American heroes” and to revive the classical architecture of federal buildings.

All are issues Mr. Trump championed in his first term, but it was too late to make much of a difference.

He is hitting them early this time, and for good reason.

Mr. Trump wants the statue garden ready for next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts have announced a $30 million contest to pay for statues to populate the garden.

The president said he wants 250 statues and mandated dozens of specific names, including Neil Armstrong, Julia Child, Muhammad Ali, Dolly Madison, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ronald Reagan. (Read more from “Trump’s Push to Restore American ‘Heroes’ Gets $30 Million Boost” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr