Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, has signaled a desire to restore the historic names of the U.S. military bases renamed by the Biden administration.
On the eve of his confirmation hearing, CNN and other liberal publications dredged up the decorated Army veteran’s past remarks on the matter — a hint that his aversion to revisionism might similarly be a sticking point for their fellow travelers in the U.S. Senate.
Leftists and others resentful of the West kicked off a sweeping campaign in 2020 to erase and rewrite American history. This public-private campaign involved digging up graves, toppling statues, renaming animals, melting down busts, knocking out church windows, and killing off iconic brands.
The Democrat-controlled 116th Congress made sure in its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 that the Pentagon would similarly engage in iconoclasm and revisionism. Section 370 of the NDAA required the removal of virtually all military assets even remotely linked to the Confederacy by Jan. 1, 2024.
Evidently the lawmakers were unswayed by public sentiment. A June 2020 ABC News-Ipsos poll found that 56% of Americans opposed changing the names of military bases named after Confederates.
President-elect Donald Trump vetoed the bill, taking issue both with Section 370 and with a provision that made it difficult for a president to reduce the number of American military personnel deployed in Africa, Europe, and South Korea.
Trump noted at the time:
Over the course of United States history, these locations have taken on significance to the American story and those who have helped write it that far transcends their namesakes. My Administration respects the legacy of the millions of American servicemen and women who have served with honor at these military bases, and who, from these locations, have fought, bled, and died for their country. From these facilities, we have won two World Wars. I have been clear in my opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.
The House and Senate each successfully voted to override Trump’s veto before he left office. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) appear to have been the only Republican senators who voted against overriding the president’s veto.
‘We should change it back because legacy matters. My uncle served at Bragg. I served at Bragg. It breaks a generational link.’
While other elements of the Biden administration were busy renaming mountains, lakes, and valleys, the Pentagon busied itself with renaming military installations as well as with toppling the Jewish American-designed Reconciliation Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
By October 2023, the Army had reportedly renamed nine installations. Georgia’s Fort Benning became Fort Moore; North Carolina’s Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty; Virginia’s Fort A.P. Hill became Fort Walker; Texas’ Fort Hood became Fort Cavazos; Virginia’s Fort Lee became Fort Gregg-Adams; Virginia’s Fort Pickett became Fort Barfoot; Louisiana’s Fort Polk became Fort Johnson; Alabama’s Fort Rucker became Fort Novosel; and Georgia’s Fort Gordon became Fort Eisenhower.
CNN noted that Hegseth has both advocated restoring the former names of military bases and called the revisionist campaign “a sham,” “garbage,” and “crap.”
The Army veteran apparently did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
“We should change it back, by the way,” Hegseth told “The Everyday Warrior Podcast with Mike Sarraille” in June. “We should change it back. We should change it back. We should change it back because legacy matters. My uncle served at Bragg. I served at Bragg. It breaks a generational link.”
“I emailed my company commander from my infantry training, which was at Fort Benning, which is no longer Fort Benning,” Hegseth said in a June interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. “It’s Fort Moore. And Hal Moore’s a great guy. But, like, there’s also a generational link that breaks when you rename Benning and Bragg. Like, where’d you serve? Bragg. Where’d you serve? Benning. Where’d you serve now? Liberty. Like, it’s just, it’s garbage. It’s all, it’s just, let’s just crap all over it.”
Hegseth has reportedly also been critical of political opportunists who went decades without complaining about base names, only to join the ranks of the staunchest advocates for revisionism.
Stating in 2020 that “there is no place in our armed forces for manifestations or symbols of racism, bias, or discrimination,” Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended a commission to “take a hard look at the bases, the statues, the names, all of this stuff” for possible changes.
“Why wasn’t he screaming about the racist base?” Hegseth told “The Everyday Warrior Podcast,” likely referring to the time Milley spent directing the U.S. Army Forces Command from what was then Fort Bragg. “Oh my goodness. How in the world am I gonna send troopers through basic training at a racist base? It must be changed. It’s a sham. He showed up and he did it as a sham to kowtow to all the chattering class in Washington, D.C., and he should be called out for it.”
Hegseth has also criticized the leftist preference for dwelling singularly on the sins of the past and ignoring American greatness.
“It’s that view that America is defined by its sins of the past,” Hegseth told Israeli podcaster Yair Netanyahu in 2021. “That the only lens through which you should view America is it was stolen from Indians — from Native Americans and built on the backs of slaves. Therefore, anyone who was a slave owner, anyone who was a part of, you know, didn’t go far enough in their time should be canceled.”
According to Hegseth’s opening statement obtained by Axios, the Army veteran plans to tell the Senate Armed Services Committee that “it’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.”
Hegseth noted in his prepared remarks that his top priorities are to “restore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon,” “rebuild our military,” and “re-establish deterrence.”
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Naming, Confederate, Military, Pentagon, Revisionism, History, Donald trump, Pete hegseth, Hegseth, Politics