{"id":6647,"date":"2026-07-08T09:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6647"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:34:39","slug":"to-justify-his-arch-trump-cites-a-1925-plan-that-vision-was-very-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6647","title":{"rendered":"To justify his arch, Trump cites a 1925 plan. That vision was very different."},"content":{"rendered":"

The administration says Congress authorized the project more than a century ago. Records show the original concept was for two smaller columns, not a towering triumphal arch.<\/strong><\/p>

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\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
(Washington Post illustration)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump wants to build a towering triumphal arch<\/a> at Memorial Circle, <\/b>a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington\u2019s boundaries, arguing that it carries out a century-old congressional vision for the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople pass that circle, they say, why isn\u2019t something built here?\u201d Trump said in the Oval Office in May.<\/p>\n

The plan Congress authorized in 1925 called for a new bridge spanning the Potomac River and a pair of columns at its westward side, near where Memorial Circle is today. The bridge was built, but the columns never were.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis large empty space directly contradicts the original vision,\u201d Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is helping oversee the project, told a federal commission reviewing the proposed arch designs in April.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department has also repeatedly argued<\/a> that Congress\u2019s past support for columns gives them authority to build a structure there now.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither the underlying Congressional authorization to build the columns \u2014 nor the discretion to modify column design \u2014 have expired,\u201d Trump administration lawyers wrote in a court filing last month.<\/p>\n

The National Capital Planning Commission, a federal agency reviewing the project, is set to review and potentially approve the administration\u2019s arch plans in a hearing Thursday.<\/p>\n

But the 166-foot-tall columns that Trump and his deputies cite to press their case differ significantly from the 250-foot-tall monument they plan to construct, which would more dramatically alter pedestrians\u2019 views and reshape the historic skyline near the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n

The century-old discussions and plans \u201care now being used as some sort of justification for the monumental arch,\u201d Priya Jain, who chairs the historical preservation committee at the Society of Architectural Historians, said last month at a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut historic renderings and descriptions show clearly how materially different they are,\u201d Jain added.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers and local leaders spent decades in the 19th century debating what to build at the western end of the National Mall. A Senate commission in 1902 issued a report calling for a new bridge over the Potomac River \u2014 a proposal that would eventually become the Arlington Memorial Bridge.<\/p>\n

Before bridge construction started, architects debated what monument to build on its western end, particularly as the Lincoln Memorial began to take shape on its eastern side.<\/p>

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Architect William Mitchell Kendall, who designed the bridge, proposed that <span style=\u201ctext-decoration: underline; text-decoration-color: red;\u201c>two 166-foot columns<\/span> be added to the Great Plaza on Columbia Island, known today as Memorial Circle.<\/p>\n

Plans called for each column to be topped with a gold gilded statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, to symbolize the reunification of North and South after the Civil War.<\/p>\n

But the proposed columns, which ultimately took several forms and heights, faced resistance. The Commerce Department in 1931 determined they could pose a risk to airplanes, and President Herbert Hoover scratched them from the bridge\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

Trump officials argue that in building the arch, they would be carrying out past lawmakers\u2019 wishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress authorized the arch project when it approved the design set out in Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission\u2019s report,\u201d Justice Department lawyers wrote in an April filing.<\/p>\n

Burgum also has said the administration\u2019s new proposal is \u201cbuilding on\u201d the 166-foot-tall columns conceived a century ago, noting that the columns for Trump\u2019s planned arch would also be 166 feet tall.<\/p>\n

But they would be topped by an additional 84 feet of pedestal and statuary that bring the arch\u2019s total height to 250 feet \u2014 offering a very different profile than originally intended a century ago.<\/p>\n

This sketch from architects McKim, Mead & White shows the view from the Lincoln Memorial in 1930, with the proposed columns \u2014 \u201cNorth\u201d and \u201cSouth\u201d \u2014 on the other side of the bridge.<\/p>\n

This is where Kendall\u2019s columns would have been placed if the plan had been approved.<\/p>\n

For comparison, Trump\u2019s proposed arch would block the view of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Washington-area officials, architects and advocacy groups have generally said Trump\u2019s arch must be made smaller \u2014 or built at a different site altogether.<\/p>\n

David Maloney, the city\u2019s historic preservation officer, warned last month<\/a> that Trump\u2019s plan to build the arch in Memorial Circle would \u201cseverely damage an exceptional cultural landscape and one of the most important symbolic places in the nation\u201d by dramatically altering pedestrians\u2019 views.<\/p>\n

Aaron Steckelberg contributed to this report. Historical drawings provided by the New York Historical.<\/i><\/p>

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The administration says Congress authorized the project more than a century ago. Historical records show the original concept was for two smaller columns, not a towering triumphal arch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTo justify his arch, Trump cites a 1925 plan. 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