Trump announces site for National Garden of Heroes tied to 250th anniversary

President Donald Trump announced the site for the National Garden of American Heroes, a project he promised during his 2024 campaign.

Trump said on Truth Social May 15 that the exhibit will be in West Potomac Park and include statues of the "founding fathers, military warriors, religious leaders, civil rights champions, world class athletes, artists, entertainers, and MORE." 

News outlets including The Washington Post and The New York Times previously reported that the garden would be at the park.

Trump's promise is one of 75 we are tracking on our MAGA-Meter.

Trump proposed the statue garden during his first term. Days before leaving office in 2021, he signed an order directing the garden's creation for the nation's 250th birthday in 2026. Congress never approved funding, and President Joe Biden rescinded the order.

In 2025, Trump reinstated his executive order and told the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts to partner on the garden's construction. Trump's 2025 tax and spending law awards $40 million to the garden project.

We asked the White House about the current cost and construction timeline and the response we received from a spokesperson did not answer our questions but instead praised the project.

"President Trump's National Garden of American Heroes will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism," Davis Ingle said. "President Trump continues to beautify and honor our Nation's Capital during America's historic semiquincentennial celebration."

The New York Times earlier in May reported that a White House task force had issued a list of the 250 people who would be featured in the garden. (We asked the White House if that list remains current and did not get a response.)

Paul M. Farber, the director of Monument Lab, a Philadelphia nonprofit public art, history and design studio, told The New York Times that list represented "a sanitizing" of the country's history. 

For example, it describes Martin Luther King, Jr., as a "brilliant minister and leader" who "believed deeply in the words of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal with God-given rights." But doesn't mention his campaign against racism and pursuit of racial justice.

The document describes Rosa Parks as "a courageous woman" who "by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, she stood tall for the principle that every citizen should be treated with dignity and respect under the law." It omits that Parks was Black and refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.

Trump has made progress toward his promise on the National Garden of Heroes. We will monitor the construction. We rate this promise In the Works. 

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