Trump Orders Creation of ‘National Garden of American Heroes’ to Counter Statue Destruction – Do You Support a Monument?

What's the story?

• President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of a "National Garden of American Heroes" to defend what he calls "our great national story" against those who vandalise statues.
• “For the sake of our union, we must protect and preserve our history, our heritage and our great heroes,” Trump told the crowd at a rally at South Dakota’s Mt. Rushmore on Friday night.

"Today, under the authority vested in me as the president of the United States, I am announcing the creation of a new monument to the giants of our past. I am signing an executive order to establish the National Garden of American Heroes."

• Demonstrators have toppled a number of statues - most notably those of Confederate soldiers and slaveholders - during protests following the killing of George Floyd.

The executive order listed 31 Americans who will be memorialized:

• John Adams
• Susan B. Anthony
• Clara Barton
• Daniel Boone
• Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
• Henry Clay
• Davy Crockett
• Frederick Douglass
• Amelia Earhart
• Benjamin Franklin
• Billy Graham
• Alexander Hamilton
• Thomas Jefferson
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Abraham Lincoln
• Douglas MacArthur
• Dolley Madison
• James Madison
• Christa McAuliffe
• Audie Murphy
• George S. Patton, Jr.
• Ronald Reagan
• Jackie Robinson
• Betsy Ross
• Antonin Scalia
• Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Harriet Tubman
• Booker T. Washington
• George Washington
• Orville and Wilbur Wright.

"None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying," the order said.

What do you think?

Do you support the creation of a Monument Garden? Who would you like to see included—or not included? Take action above, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)