President Trump has honored our nation and its noble veterans throughout both terms of his presidency. Now, President Trump is planning to complete a long overdue project to honor our nation’s veterans by building a monumental arch on Memorial Circle at the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery.
It is a national embarrassment that policy makers have neglected for more than 100 years to build a congressionally authorized monument on this circle to honor our nation and its veterans. As chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, I applaud President Trump’s historic efforts to build a monumental arch at Memorial Circle, and will vote to approve this project.
In 1925, Congress enacted a law authorizing the executive branch to construct a monumental project linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery. The centerpiece of this project would be a monumental plaza on Columbia Island between Robert E. Lee’s home atop Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. //
The 1925 Act is still in effect and authorizes President Trump to finish this project. Indeed, as late as 1951, the government was still working on other aspects of the project, such as installing the massive Arts of War and Peace equestrian statues at the D.C. side of the bridge, which were accepted as a gift from the Italian government. //
The absence of a monument at Memorial Circle is a disgrace to our country and especially to our veterans. Congress intended Columbia Island to have a monumental plaza as a fitting entrance to the sacred ground of Arlington National Cemetery. Instead, there is nothing but an empty traffic circle that pedestrians cannot even access. //
President Trump’s Triumphal Arch will finally bring this project to completion. Like the monumental plaza envisioned in the 1925 act, the arch will signify American unity and greatness. The pillars of the arch will reach 166 feet, the exact same height as the initial columns, and will be topped with winged figures like the originals.
The inscription across the arch, “One Nation Under God,” perfectly captures the vision of great Americans going back to Jackson and Daniel Webster. And placing this arch at the entry of Arlington National Cemetery will show that our nation reserves its grandest monuments for an entryway to the graves of those who fought to defend her freedoms.
The arch will also offer veterans, families, and grateful Americans with unparalleled views into Arlington National Cemetery. And the military has determined that the arch is a necessary platform from which to provide advance defense capabilities for our capital.
Washington, D.C. is the only capital of a great nation that lacks a monumental arch. President Trump is finishing yet another project that has been allowed to languish for decades and finally providing an appropriately grand gateway to the final resting place of our brave men and women at Arlington.
