President Donald Trump said he plans to build the National Garden of American Heroes, an exhibit of statues honoring prominent Americans, in West Potomac Park near the National Mall. In a Friday social media post, Trump said the garden will rise in a space near several major memorials along the Potomac River, an area he described as “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River.”
Trump said the statues would commemorate America’s 250th anniversary and would recognize 250 prominent Americans for contributions that he framed as cultural, political and other historical achievements. He first raised the idea during Fourth of July celebrations in 2020, and he has presented it as a response to protests that led to the removal of some controversial monuments, including ones that commemorated slave owners and Confederate leaders.
In a White House executive order near the end of Trump’s first term, he signed a plan naming 244 people, including Ronald Reagan and Jackie Robinson, who he said should be honored with statues in the garden. The idea later languished under President Joe Biden before Congress provided $40 million under Trump’s tax and spending cuts law last year to procure the statues included in his executive orders.
The site Trump chose, West Potomac Park, is near multiple monuments that already sit close to the National Mall, including the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The area is also home to fields and volleyball courts that local sports groups use regularly.
Federal law generally requires major projects and memorials in that part of Washington to receive sign-off from multiple design and planning groups. The AP report said the approvals process—along with potential design disputes and funding challenges—often takes years to reach completion, citing the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial as an example that took 21 years to finish after Congress initially approved it in 1999.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the garden will be built to reflect “the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism.” Ingle also said, “President Trump continues to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital during America’s historic semiquincentennial celebration.” The White House spokesman did not comment on whether the administration was seeking the relevant approvals or whether it had already awarded contracts for the statues.
The proposal lands in a broader pattern of Trump administration moves affecting Washington landmarks, where oversight requirements can collide with a faster approach. The AP report said Trump moved quickly in his term to drain and repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and demolished the East Wing of the White House last year to build a ballroom. It also said Trump’s name has been added to the facade of the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close for a two-year renovation, and that workers recently began preliminary surveys and testing for a triumphal arch he is seeking between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
As part of the same broader push, the AP report said the administration is also moving forward with plans to transform East Potomac Park from an accessible public golf course into what Trump described as a “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum released a design plan that he said would provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates,” while the report said the plan provided few details on how the park—which is used by local runners and bikers—would remain open to the general public.
With major projects in the monumental core already tied to approvals processes and potential legal challenges, the AP report said virtually all of the projects have become subject to litigation.