President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration will build the National Garden of American Heroes, a sculpture park honoring 250 notable Americans, on a stretch of federal parkland along the Potomac River that he described as a “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate.” The announcement, posted on Truth Social, targets West Potomac Park — a site that already houses the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial — and could bypass the multi-agency approval process that has governed Washington’s monumental core for decades.
The idea dates to Trump’s first term, when he raised it during Fourth of July celebrations in 2020 and framed it as a response to protests that led to the removal of controversial monuments, including those honoring slave owners and Confederate leaders. In the final days of his first term, he signed an executive order naming 244 people — from Reagan to baseball legend Jackie Robinson — to be memorialized. The project then languished under President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Congress revived it last year by including $40 million in Trump’s signature tax and spending cuts legislation to procure the statues.
White House spokesman Ingle said the garden would “be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism,” but he did not comment on whether the administration was seeking the approvals that federal law requires. In Washington’s monumental core, nearly every permanent building or memorial design must pass through multiple commissions and planning bodies. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, one of the newest additions near the Mall, took 21 years to finish after Congress approved it in 1999.
According to the Associated Press, Trump and his supporters have shown little interest in such procedures. He drained and repainted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool within days this month. He demolished the White House East Wing last year to build a ballroom. His name was added to the facade of the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close later this summer for a renovation. Workers this week began preliminary surveys for a triumphal arch he wants between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The administration is also pressing ahead with plans to convert East Potomac Park’s public golf course into what Trump has described as a “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday released a design for the new course that he said would provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.” The plan provided few details on how the park, frequently used by local runners and bikers, would remain open to the general public.
Virtually all of the projects have become subject to litigation, the Associated Press reported.