In 2020, during the waning days of President Donald Trump’s first term, Congress took rare bipartisan action to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases in the U.S. At the time, Trump attempted to block the legislation but failed as both Republicans and Democrats voted overwhelmingly to override the president’s veto.
That legislative rebuke seems to have stuck with Trump for the last five years because on Tuesday, during a speech at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, the president announced that he would be side-stepping the law and restoring the Confederate base names that had been removed by Congress.
Trump previously skirted the law earlier this year to restore the name of Fort Bragg itself, which had been briefly retitled Fort Liberty after originally being named in honor of Confederate general, Braxton Bragg. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that they were not actually restoring the base’s name in honor of the Confederate leader, but in fact renaming the base in homage to obscure military figure Pvt. Roland L. Bragg. The same tactic was employed to restore the name of Georgia’s Fort Benning, using World War I corporal Fred Benning as a proxy for Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning.
Trump is now directing the Army to continue that trend with the other bases renamed by Congress. For instance, the name of Fort Eisenhower in Georgia will be reverted back to Fort Gordon, which was originally named in honor of Confederate slave owner John Brown Gordon but will now technically be a tribute to Master Sgt. Gary Gordon who fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
However, even Trump himself appears to be having a difficult time trying to obscure the ulterior motives behind these name reversals. In his speech Tuesday, the president said that the Army would be “restoring” the name of Virginia’s Fort Gregg-Adams to “Fort Robert E. Lee” despite the Army’s claims that the base would be renamed in honor of Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Medal of Honor recipient and member of the all-Black Buffalo Soldiers who served in the Spanish-American War.
Several critics are now decrying Trump’s announcement as a not-so-subtle attempt to breathe new life into “Lost Cause” mythology, to cast Confederate traitors and slave owners in a positive light, and to enshrine their racist and treasonous legacy in our nation’s military institutions. Among those critics is Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“This announcement from President Trump is both insulting and unsurprising. The administration has already taken actions to return other military bases to their Confederate monikers, rename naval ships honoring civil rights leaders and remove references to contributions of women and people of color who have served our country throughout history,” Huang said in an official press release Tuesday.
“This decision should alarm everyone,” she continued. “President Trump is seeking to honor insurrectionists who went to war against their own countrymen to preserve white supremacy and protect slavery. Celebrating the shameful actions of people who fought against American values is an affront to every member of our armed forces, particularly Black and Latino servicemembers. It also disrespects the bipartisan and democratic process that renamed the military bases to honor real American patriots.”
The Democratic members of Alabama’s congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., also expressed deep criticism of Trump’s renaming campaign in written statements to APR.
Congressman Figures specifically bemoaned the renaming of Alabama’s own Fort Novosel, which will once again be known as Fort Rucker per Trump’s orders.
“It is incredibly unfortunate that we are renaming military bases after traitors who fought to maintain a system in this country that allowed for people who look like me to be slaves. This is really a middle finger to Black people in Alabama, and the Black soldiers who have to serve at this base,” Figures told APR.
Fort Novosel was originally named Fort Rucker in honor of Confederate Col. Edmund W. Rucker, but will now technically be named after World War I veteran Capt. Edward W. Rucker, according to the Army. While Capt. Rucker was a Missouri native with no apparent ties to Alabama, Michael Novosel Sr., who became the base’s namesake in 2020, was a resident of Enterprise, Alabama, a decorated Vietnam veteran and a military aviator for over 40 years.
Rep. Sewell echoed Figures’ criticism, and questioned the Trump administration’s policy priorities.
“This is nothing more than petty political pandering by the Trump administration. Try as you might, you can not rewrite history. It’s as if Trump has nothing else to do. He was elected to lower costs and tackle inflation. Do your damn job!” Sewell told APR.
In addition to Huang, Figures, and Sewell, retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule — vice chair of the independent commission established by Congress to rename bases with Confederate monikers — has also slammed Trump’s renaming policy. Seidule told USA Today that he believes the president is “overturning the will of the American people through their elected representatives who set up the Naming Commission,” which selected “true American heroes who fought for our great nation and reflect the best of our values.”
Seidule, who was also the former head of the history department at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, added that Confederate soldiers “chose treason to preserve and expand human bondage. They represent the worst of America.”
