President Donald Trump promised Tuesday to restore the former names to a slew of military bases, renamed under former President Joe Biden, due to their Confederate associations.
Trump said he would restore seven military bases across the U.S. to their original names, including Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee, the president said in his speech at Fort Bragg Tuesday. The names were changed under Biden due to their associations with former Confederate leaders amid a broader push nationwide to remove Confederate monuments and names.
Congress would have to pass a new law to change the names, as the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act currently forbids military installations from having Confederate namesakes under direction from the Naming Commission.
“We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change,” Trump added in his announcement.
To sidestep the law, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth renamed Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg in February by instead using the namesake of the World War II hero, while also using the same method to restore the name for Fort Benning in March.
The speech comes on the heels of the Army’s 250th anniversary, which will be celebrated with a military parade through Washington, D.C., on June 14.
“Wherever danger is, the U.S. Army will be another beautiful phrase,” Trump said in his remarks. “Whatever peril comes our way, whatever menace threatens our people, you will stand strong, you will be proud, your charge hard, and you will keep that flame lit.”
The White House declined to comment, while the Pentagon did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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