Military Bases Named for Confederate Leaders -- Remnants of the Lost Cause

“It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our

Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina,

Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental

and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage,

and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration

will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be

tampered with. Respect our Military!”

-- Donald Trump, June 10. 2020

Trump said this despite Army spokesperson said Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy saying they were "open to a bi-partisan discussion" about renaming the bases. Military officials told Politico that the recent nationwide protests re-opened the issue and “made us start looking more at ourselves and the things that we do, and how that is communicated to the force as well as the American public.”

In addition, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the annual military spending bill that would require the Defense Department to change the names of military bases and assets named for Confederate leaders.

In an essay for the Atlantic, retired Army Gen. David Petraeus – who served at Fort Bragg – called the continued use of the name “a mistake.” Petraeus wrote …

“These bases are, after all, federal installations, home to soldiers who swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The irony of training at bases named for those who took up arms against the United States, and for the right to enslave others, is inescapable to anyone paying attention.”

(David Petraeus. “Take the Confederate Names Off Our Army Bases.”

The Atlantic. June 9, 2020.)

Of course, Trump is not paying attention.

In truth, Trump's description of bases named after Confederate heroes – “Part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom” – has nothing to do with their names, names that exist as symbols of racism and division. The “heritage” and “winning” associated with these names is dark and celebratory of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. 

The issue is not to take anything away from American service personnel who “trained” at the bases. Instead, it is to uplift their standing as bases with names befitting true U.S. military heroes. And, Lord knows, there are plenty of these heroes with the right stuff – American patriots deserving of that honor.

What Trump defends as “Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations” are, in his eyes, immune from change in defense of equality. One must ask: “Is keeping the name of a traitor on a military facility what makes it “magnificent and fabled”?

“And he (Trump) may well be ill-informed enough that he has no idea that, far from connoting power and winning, some of these base names indicate the opposite. Fort Pickett was named after an inept commander who was charged with war crimes. Fort Bragg was named for another incompetent general 'known for pettiness and cruelty.' (By the way, GeneralBragg was also a well-know slave owner with a largely unsuccessful record in the Civil War.)

“Fort Gordon was named after a Ku Klux Klan leader. Every damn one of them was a loser in a bad cause. And their names were attached to military facilities not to honor their courage or skill but to support the big lie of the neo-Confederacy, the whitewashing of the lost cause in order to perpetuate Jim Crow and the terrorism that created and maintained it.”

-- Ed Kilgore, political columnist for New York magazine

and the managing editor of the Democratic Strategist

As Petraeus says, the definition of “equality” has “repeatedly demonstrated the capacity to broaden.” America continues to learn as it struggles with the true meaning of this concept. The General concludes ...

“We do not live in a country to which Braxton Bragg, Henry L. Benning, or Robert E. Lee can serve as an inspiration. Acknowledging this fact is imperative. Should it fail to do so, the Army, which prides itself on leading the way in perilous times, will be left to fight a rearguard action against a more inclusive American future, one that fulfills the nation’s founding promise.”

Fred Kaplan, American author and journalist, says Trump is, as usual, clueless about the history of the country he supposedly leads. And rather than take the lead on a movement to redress the symbolism of white supremacy, he once again prefers to bask in what he sees as the buzzwords of his base – strength, heroes, and military. This even as decorated veterans, who embody those values more authentically than he ever will, are coming to terms with the sinful roots of certain aspects of their tradition.

About coming to terms with injustice, Kaplan concludes ...

“This answer would now be unacceptable to anyone besides Trump. The valor of an officer can no longer be separated from the criminal depravity of his cause, and many of the still-honored Confederate officers lacked so much as valor. Nor, more broadly, can history be minimized as the inanimate stuff of street signs, statues, or military bases.

“History is a living thing. Those signs, statues, and bases mark the honoring and therefore the legitimizing of the causes that their namesakes fought for—causes that should never have been honored in the United States of America. It is long past time to attach them to names and causes that are worthy.”

(Fred Kaplan. “Trump’s Support for Confederate Base Names Has Nothing to Do With Respecting the Military.” Slate. June 10, 2020.)