President Donald Trump installed a statue of Christopher Columbus outside of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Sunday.
The statue originally stood in Baltimore, Maryland, and was dumped into the city’s harbor by Black Lives Matter rioters on July 4, 2020. The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) reconstructed the statue as a replica of the one destroyed in 2020, according to the organization’s press release.
The 13-foot statue includes the description, “Discoverer of America: October 12, 1492.” The Italian American Organizations United coordinated with COPOMIAO President Basil Russo to install the statue at the White House in October 2025. Former President Ronald Reagan dedicated the statue in Baltimore on Oct. 8, 1984.
In a letter to Trump, Russo wrote that statues of Columbus are symbols of “pride and cultural identity” for Italian Americans, according to the press release by COPOMIAO. He highlighted how Columbus’ legacy helped Italian Americans fight prejudice, particularly after the 1891 lynchings of 11 Italian immigrants in New Orleans.
“Columbus statues have long stood as symbols of pride and cultural identity for more than 18 million Americans of Italian descent,” Russo wrote. “For over a century, Columbus’s legacy helped Italian immigrants navigate prejudice and hardship, serving as a source of unity and belonging as they built new lives in this country. Columbus Day itself emerged in the aftermath of the 1891 New Orleans lynching, when 11 Italian immigrants were killed by a mob of thousands, an event that prompted a national effort to promote the acceptance and assimilation of Italian Americans. This history remains central to why these monuments matter.”
Trump told Russo in a letter that he was “honored” to place the statue on the White House’s property.
“Christopher Columbus was the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth,” Trump wrote. “Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’ voyage in 1492 carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas—paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.”
The White House said it is “proud” to honor Columbus’ “legendary life and legacy” as an American hero and a “giant of Western Civilization.”
Left-wing activists and academics have attempted to erase Columbus Day and paint Columbus as a genocidal maniac who mistreated natives. However, Columbus adopted a Native American adolescent as his son during his voyage in the Bahamas, who would become known as Diego Colon.
Columbus also urged his voyagers to exercise mercy toward the Natives, even after they burned an entire Spanish settlement and killed all the Spaniards in the area. In his journals, Columbus described encountering cannibals among the Taino tribes on the Bahamas, and often expressed fear that the inhabitants “eat human flesh” and were very warlike.
Former President Benjamin Harrison established Columbus Day on Oct, 21, 1892, to foster support for Italian Americans following the 1891 lynching, which marked the largest single mass lynching in U.S. history.
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