WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will “not even consider” changing the name of any of the 10 Army bases that are named for Confederate Army officers. Two days earlier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper indicated that he was open to a broad discussion of such changes.
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“These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom,” Trump wrote. “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.”
It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020
…Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020
Name changes have not been proposed by the Army or the Pentagon, but on Monday, Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy indicated in response to questions from reporters that they were “open to a bipartisan discussion” of renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia.
Supporters of disassociating military bases from Confederate Army officers argue that they represent the racism and divisiveness of the Civil War era and glorify men who fought against the United States.
To amplify Trump’s view, his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, read his tweets to reporters in the White House briefing room. She said he is “fervently” opposed to changing the base names and believes that doing so would amount to “complete disrespect” for soldiers who trained there over the years.
The possibility of renaming the bases, McEnany said, is “an absolute non-starter” for Trump.
If Congress were to pass legislation requiring name changes, he would not sign it, she said.
The U.S. military recently began rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, including the Army base names, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. The Navy and the Marine Corps are now banning public displays of the Confederate Army battle flag on their installations, casting their decision as necessary to preserve cohesion within the ranks.
Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Among the 10 is Fort Benning, the namesake of Confederate Army Gen. Henry L. Benning, who was a leader of Georgia’s secessionist movement and an advocate of preserving slavery. Others are in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. The naming was done mostly after World War I and in the 1940s, in some cases as gestures of conciliation to the South.
Few voices in the military are openly defending the link to Confederate symbols, but some of the bases named for Confederate officers are legendary in their own right. Fort Bragg, for example, is home to some of the Army’s most elite forces. Any decision to change the name at Bragg or other bases likely would involve consulting with officials from the affected states and localities.
Paul Eaton, a retired two-star Army general and a former commanding general of Fort Benning, said Trump’s statements go against ideals the Army stands for.
“Today, Donald Trump made it official. Rather than move this nation further away from institutionalized racism, he believes we should cling to it and its heritage, by keeping the names of racist traitors on the gates of our military bases,” Eaton said.
Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and veteran of the Iraq war, said in an email exchange that renaming these bases is long overdue.
“Most serving soldiers know little about the history behind the Confederate leaders for whom these bases are named, or the political deals that caused them to be honored in this fashion,” he said. “There might be some pushback from a small segment of soldiers from the South, but this is what we like to call a ‘teachable moment.’ Now is the time to finally bring about a change that will speak volumes as to what the U.S. Army stands for.”
David Petraeus, a retired four-star Army general, said the renaming move, which he supports, amounts to a “war of memory,” and that before deciding to rename bases like Fort Bragg, where he served with the 82nd Airborne Division, the Army must be ready to follow its own procedures for such change.
“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,” Petraeus wrote in an essay published Tuesday by The Atlantic. “Now, belatedly, is the moment for us to pay such attention.”
Fort Bragg was named for Braxton Bragg, a native North Carolinian and Confederate general with a reputation for bravery and mediocre leadership. His forces were defeated at the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863.
Today the US NAVY banned damned Confederate flags, as did NASCAR! Last week the slave-owner flag was banned by the US MARINES. On Jan 22 2021 the Rebel forts will have name changes. In 1946 Germany got rid of nazi statues and place names. Only trumpf wants to keep them!
Confederate flags should NOT be banned.
The DemoNazis are destroying this country bit by bit.
First it’s the confederate flag, then they’ll come after your racist yarmulka and tallis. Very soon now. You’re next Onkelmord.
‘they’ll come after your racist yarmulka..” Maybe in your White Supermacist Republican States like Iowa (ask Rubashkin) Louisiana, Alabama etc. 99% of us (Yarmulkas) live in SANCTUARY Cities and nothing you guys can do to us.
No , no.. It’s BLM Blue DemoNazis who are going to grab your beeny off your head.. Jew haters and racists along with the white dumb leftie trash.
Hope you affix 3 bobby pins firmly.
You mean the LAWLESS SANCTUARY cities. Wake up, nobody cares about Jews, stop fooling yourself.
I too live in a sanctuary city. Sanctuary for newly released cons who roam my neighborhood along with looters and killers. They’re in sanctuary while we stay locked indoors.
It’s sad to see such ignorance. I’ve lived and spent a ton of time in “White Supremacist Republican States” and the level of Anti-Semitism is a fraction of what it is in NY/NJ. I’ve actually been shocked by the amount of Antisemitism in the NY area as I grew up OOT where Anti-Semitism was rare to non-existent.
They gave water because they’re frightened cowards , not because they like them. You’re a typical leftie. You believe that every white is a Jew hating supremacist.That’s because you’re a frightened Jew.
CH had a full blown pogrom. NJ Jewish grocers murdered in minority area .. Williamsburg Jews being punched and robbed.. Jews moved out if East NY, CH, Bronx, Brownsville , Bed Stuy , Harlem , and can’t live in the cities proper of Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore. Black leaders bait Jews.. Sharpton , Farrakhan , Wright , West , Ilhan …..etc..
What are you talking about ???
So AH likes and supports RACISM. He has a slave rebel flag in his tallis bag. The. Jew hating KKK was started by loser rebel general w.b. forrest.
Jews and minorities emigrated to cities and these cities have been destroyed by white libs and black radicals.
Frum Jews need the city infrastructure and that’s why they don’t live in Oshkosh.
The stats on crime don’t lie. Blacks commit the overwhelming crime in our country. Black on black is even worse.
Blacks are the most anti-Semitic group in the US.
Not blaming all , but facts are stubborn.
We live here not in Europe.
You are obviously paranoid about whites in America.
Jews has been overwhelming victims of black crime and so have whites.
You automatically assume that whites are supremacists without evidence. You share the beliefs of radical lefties black and white.
Guilt ridden white professors, mostly Jewish, have brainwashed students about a lie, and the burning down of America we are experiencing now , proves it.
The average American including and especially church going blacks are not raging anti-Semites.
You’re an example of Obama’s race and class baiting and America is being destroyed because of it. .
I’ve worked with a guy like you years ago.
A professional but ultra liberal Jew who raved like a lunatic when blacks and whites got into the conversation. Are you the poster who posted the 4 letter expletive here a few months ago because you went nuts when somebody criticized a black guy ??
Abrahami^^^
Tell you what_ Go to Macy’s and wear your big talles and oversized yarmulkah.
Will you do that for us ??
How come you defend BLM ?
Is it because they hate Jews, Israel, whites , Trump and America itself?
It should be noted that there is no base named for Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, one of the South’s most accomplished tacticians, who after the war committed the cardinal sin of arming a black militia to stop lynchings. He actively participated in Reconstruction and served in numerous federal posts under Republican presidents.
And there is also no base named for Major Gen. William Mahone, the hero of the Battle of the Crater, who after the war committed the cardinal sin of forming a multiracial political party in Virginia, and even worse, controlling the state government for a few years. He also created the railroad that became the Norfolk and Western and served in the US Senate, caucusing with the Republicans.
The Confederacy was about racism. Period. Former Confederates like Longstreet and Mahone who worked against racism after the war had their reputations trashed by the Lost Cause movement. It is a Chilul HaShem that any Jew defends it. It is the kind of thing that justifies anti-Semitism.