5 thoughts on “Another Really Bad Trump Idea: “The National Garden of American Heroes,” Part III: The First “Hall of Fame””

1. I can identify 63 of them with some confidence. Most Americans wouldn’t recognize a third of them.

   I know Augustus Saint-Gaudens solely because I read McCullough’s “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris”. I learned about him, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. When we visited NYC, I sought out Saint-Gaudens’ monument to William Sherman near Central Park. It’s a glorious piece with Sherman on a horse being led by the Greek goddess of Victory (Nike). While contemporaries believed the model was a well-known beautiful white woman, there’s evidence it was actually Hettie Anderson, an African-American woman from the South.

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2. The Senate Wing of the U.S. Capitol has a significant number of statues of historical politicians, e.g. many Vice Presidents and key figures in the Senate. My understanding is that each state can donate two statues for this collection. The selection criteria for each collection is by necessity arbitrary. My question is why President Trump’s idea of a National Garden of American Heroes is ethically different than the collection of busts in the U.S. Capitol. Maybe the President should think about a better process or better criteria for including statues in this garden.

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   • Well, for one thing, the state heroes are arranged by state. They include non-politicians—Hawaii includes Father Damien, who treated the lepers—but there’s no pretense that they are more deserving, heroic or special than famous figures not recognized. It’s two state heroes. How could Virginia be seen as declaring that it two statues are more deserving than its Presidents and patriots? Here’s the list: location, individual, and state.

     Crypt Samuel Adams Massachusetts
     Crypt John Caldwell Calhoun South Carolina
     Crypt Charles Carroll Maryland
     Crypt Billy Graham Jr. North Carolina
     Crypt Nathanael Greene Rhode Island
     Crypt Barbara Rose Johns Virginia
     Crypt Robert R. Livingston New York
     Crypt Crawford W. Long Georgia
     Crypt John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg Pennsylvania
     Crypt Caesar Rodney Delaware
     Crypt Roger Sherman Connecticut
     Crypt John Stark New Hampshire
     Crypt Richard Stockton New Jersey
     Capitol Visitor Center William Edgar Borah Idaho
     Capitol Visitor Center Johnny Cash Arkansas
     Capitol Visitor Center Willa Cather Nebraska
     Capitol Visitor Center John Middleton Clayton Delaware
     Capitol Visitor Center James Zachariah George Mississippi
     Capitol Visitor Center Ernest Gruening Alaska
     Capitol Visitor Center Wade Hampton South Carolina
     Capitol Visitor Center Kamehameha I Hawaii
     Capitol Visitor Center Mother Joseph Washington
     Capitol Visitor Center Helen Keller Alabama
     Capitol Visitor Center Eusebio Kino Arizona
     Capitol Visitor Center Ephraim McDowell Kentucky
     Capitol Visitor Center John McLoughlin Oregon
     Capitol Visitor Center Po’pay New Mexico
     Capitol Visitor Center Jeannette Rankin Montana
     Capitol Visitor Center Sakakawea North Dakota
     Capitol Visitor Center Maria L. Sanford Minnesota
     Capitol Visitor Center Jack Swigert Jr. Colorado
     Capitol Visitor Center Joseph Ward South Dakota
     Capitol Visitor Center Chief Washakie Wyoming
     Capitol Visitor Center Edward Douglass White Louisiana
     Capitol Visitor Center Sarah Winnemucca Nevada
     Hall of Columns Stephen Austin Texas
     Hall of Columns Jacob Collamer Vermont
     Hall of Columns Father Damien Hawaii
     Hall of Columns John Gorrie Florida
     Hall of Columns John Hanson Maryland
     Hall of Columns Philip Kearny New Jersey
     Hall of Columns John E. Kenna West Virginia
     Hall of Columns Samuel Jordan Kirkwood Iowa
     Hall of Columns Patrick Anthony McCarran Nevada
     Hall of Columns Esther Hobart Morris Wyoming
     Hall of Columns Oliver Hazard Perry Morton Indiana
     Hall of Columns Florence R. Sabin Colorado
     Hall of Columns James Shields Illinois
     Hall of Columns Roger Williams Rhode Island
     Hall of Columns John Winthrop Massachusetts
     House connecting corridor, 2nd Floor Edward Lewis Bartlett Alaska
     House connecting corridor, 2nd Floor William King Maine
     House connecting corridor, 2nd Floor Jacques Marquette Wisconsin
     House connecting corridor, 2nd Floor Will Rogers Oklahoma
     House connecting corridor, 2nd Floor Jonathan Trumbull Connecticut
     National Statuary Hall Ethan Allen Vermont
     National Statuary Hall Daisy Lee Gatson Bates Arkansas
     National Statuary Hall William Henry Harrison Beadle South Dakota
     National Statuary Hall Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Florida
     National Statuary Hall Francis Preston Blair Missouri
     National Statuary Hall Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Iowa
     National Statuary Hall John Burke North Dakota
     National Statuary Hall Lewis Cass Michigan
     National Statuary Hall Henry Clay Kentucky
     National Statuary Hall Jefferson Davis Mississippi
     National Statuary Hall Amelia Earhart Kansas
     National Statuary Hall Thomas Edison Ohio
     National Statuary Hall Robert Fulton Pennsylvania
     National Statuary Hall Barry Goldwater Arizona
     National Statuary Hall Hannibal Hamlin Maine
     National Statuary Hall Sam Houston Texas
     National Statuary Hall Robert M. La Follette Wisconsin
     National Statuary Hall Jason Lee Oregon
     National Statuary Hall Huey Pierce Long Louisiana
     National Statuary Hall Francis Harrison Pierpont West Virginia
     National Statuary Hall Henry Mower Rice Minnesota
     National Statuary Hall Charles Marion Russell Montana
     National Statuary Hall Sequoyah Oklahoma
     National Statuary Hall Father Junipero Serra California
     National Statuary Hall John Sevier Tennessee
     National Statuary Hall George Laird Shoup Idaho
     National Statuary Hall Chief Standing Bear Nebraska
     National Statuary Hall Alexander Hamilton Stephens Georgia
     National Statuary Hall Zebulon Baird Vance North Carolina
     National Statuary Hall Lewis Wallace Indiana
     National Statuary Hall Daniel Webster New Hampshire
     National Statuary Hall Joseph Wheeler Alabama
     National Statuary Hall Marcus Whitman Washington
     National Statuary Hall Frances E. Willard Illinois
     National Statuary Hall Brigham Young Utah
     Rotunda Dwight D. Eisenhower Kansas
     Rotunda Gerald R. Ford Jr. Michigan
     Rotunda James A. Garfield Ohio
     Rotunda Andrew Jackson Tennessee
     Rotunda Ronald Wilson Reagan California
     Rotunda Harry S. Truman Missouri
     Rotunda George Washington Virginia
     Senate Wing, 2nd Floor Dennis Chavez New Mexico
     Senate Wing, 2nd Floor George Clinton New York

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3. People I had never heard of:

   Phillips Brooks

   William Ellery Channing

   James Fenimore Cooper

   Peter Cooper

   Charlotte Cushman

   Stephen Foster

   William C. Gorgas- although it turns out that I did know of his work, just not his name

   Sidney Lanier

   Elias Howe

   Matthew Fontaine Maury

   Francis Parkman

   Lillian Wald

   People I had heard of, but couldn’t tell you why they were important:

   George Bancroft

   Rufus Choate

   James Buchanan Eads

   Asa Gray

   Augustus Saint-Gaudens

   Horace Mann

   People I was surprised to see there:

   Edwin Booth: I know why he is there, I just question if that is important enough to be there.

   Albert A. Michelson (pleasantly so). That makes 2 prominent naval officers with serious seasickness in history.

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   • On your list, the only one I would say all Americans should know about is Stephen Foster, one of the greatest of all American composers. He has been cancelled for being “politically incorrect,” but what a list of songs: “Oh! Susanna” (18480, “Camptown Races” (1850), “Old Folks at Home” (Swanee River) (1851), “My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!,” “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” (1854), and “Beautiful Dreamer”

     He died in poverty after cutting his own throat.

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