Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes, 41165-41168 [2020-14872]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 131 (Wednesday, July 8, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 41165-41168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14872]



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Vol. 85

Wednesday,

No. 131

July 8, 2020

Part III





The President





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Executive Order 13934--Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American 
Heroes


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 131 / Wednesday, July 8, 2020 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

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                Executive Order 13934 of July 3, 2020

                
Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American 
                Heroes

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Purpose. America owes its present greatness 
                to its past sacrifices. Because the past is always at 
                risk of being forgotten, monuments will always be 
                needed to honor those who came before. Since the time 
                of our founding, Americans have raised monuments to our 
                greatest citizens. In 1784, the legislature of Virginia 
                commissioned the earliest statue of George Washington, 
                a ``monument of affection and gratitude'' to a man who 
                ``unit[ed] to the endowment[s] of the Hero the virtues 
                of the Patriot'' and gave to the world ``an Immortal 
                Example of true Glory.'' I Res. H. Del. (June 24, 
                1784). In our public parks and plazas, we have erected 
                statues of great Americans who, through acts of wisdom 
                and daring, built and preserved for us a republic of 
                ordered liberty.

                These statues are silent teachers in solid form of 
                stone and metal. They preserve the memory of our 
                American story and stir in us a spirit of 
                responsibility for the chapters yet unwritten. These 
                works of art call forth gratitude for the 
                accomplishments and sacrifices of our exceptional 
                fellow citizens who, despite their flaws, placed their 
                virtues, their talents, and their lives in the service 
                of our Nation. These monuments express our noblest 
                ideals: respect for our ancestors, love of freedom, and 
                striving for a more perfect union. They are works of 
                beauty, created as enduring tributes. In preserving 
                them, we show reverence for our past, we dignify our 
                present, and we inspire those who are to come. To build 
                a monument is to ratify our shared national project.

                To destroy a monument is to desecrate our common 
                inheritance. In recent weeks, in the midst of protests 
                across America, many monuments have been vandalized or 
                destroyed. Some local governments have responded by 
                taking their monuments down. Among others, monuments to 
                Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Thomas 
                Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Francis Scott Key, 
                Ulysses S. Grant, leaders of the abolitionist movement, 
                the first all-volunteer African-American regiment of 
                the Union Army in the Civil War, and American soldiers 
                killed in the First and Second World Wars have been 
                vandalized, destroyed, or removed.

                These statues are not ours alone, to be discarded at 
                the whim of those inflamed by fashionable political 
                passions; they belong to generations that have come 
                before us and to generations yet unborn. My 
                Administration will not abide an assault on our 
                collective national memory. In the face of such acts of 
                destruction, it is our responsibility as Americans to 
                stand strong against this violence, and to peacefully 
                transmit our great national story to future generations 
                through newly commissioned monuments to American 
                heroes.

                Sec. 2. Task Force for Building and Rebuilding 
                Monuments to American Heroes. (a) There is hereby 
                established the Interagency Task Force for Building and 
                Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes (Task Force). 
                The Task Force shall be chaired by the Secretary of the 
                Interior (Secretary), and shall include the following 
                additional members:

(i) the Administrator of General Services (Administrator);

(ii) the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA);

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(iii) the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH);

(iv) the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP); 
and

(v) any officers or employees of any executive department or agency 
(agency) designated by the President or the Secretary.

                    (b) The Department of the Interior shall provide 
                funding and administrative support as may be necessary 
                for the performance and functions of the Task Force. 
                The Secretary shall designate an official of the 
                Department of the Interior to serve as the Executive 
                Director of the Task Force, responsible for 
                coordinating its day-to-day activities.
                    (c) The Chairpersons of the NEA and NEH and the 
                Chairman of the ACHP shall establish cross-department 
                initiatives within the NEA, NEH, and ACHP, 
                respectively, to advance the purposes of the Task Force 
                and this order and to coordinate relevant agency 
                operations with the Task Force.

                Sec. 3. National Garden of American Heroes. (a) It 
                shall be the policy of the United States to establish a 
                statuary park named the National Garden of American 
                Heroes (National Garden).

                    (b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the 
                Task Force shall submit a report to the President 
                through the Assistant to the President for Domestic 
                Policy that proposes options for the creation of the 
                National Garden, including potential locations for the 
                site. In identifying options, the Task Force shall:

(i) strive to open the National Garden expeditiously;

(ii) evaluate the feasibility of creating the National Garden through a 
variety of potential avenues, including existing agency authorities and 
appropriations; and

(iii) consider the availability of authority to encourage and accept the 
donation or loan of statues by States, localities, civic organizations, 
businesses, religious organizations, and individuals, for display at the 
National Garden.

                    (c) In addition to the requirements of subsection 
                3(b) of this order, the proposed options for the 
                National Garden should adhere to the criteria described 
                in subsections (c)(i) through (c)(vi) of this section.

(i) The National Garden should be composed of statues, including statues of 
John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence 
Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, 
Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, 
Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley 
Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, 
Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet 
Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and 
Orville and Wilbur Wright.

(ii) The National Garden should be opened for public access prior to the 
250th anniversary of the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence on 
July 4, 2026.

(iii) Statues should depict historically significant Americans, as that 
term is defined in section 7 of this order, who have contributed positively 
to America throughout our history. Examples include: the Founding Fathers, 
those who fought for the abolition of slavery or participated in the 
underground railroad, heroes of the United States Armed Forces, recipients 
of the Congressional Medal of Honor or Presidential Medal of Freedom, 
scientists and inventors, entrepreneurs, civil rights leaders, missionaries 
and religious leaders, pioneers and explorers, police officers and 
firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty, labor leaders, 
advocates for the poor and disadvantaged, opponents of national socialism 
or international socialism, former Presidents of the United States and 
other elected officials, judges and justices, astronauts, authors, 
intellectuals, artists, and teachers. None will have lived perfect lives, 
but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying.

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(iv) All statues in the National Garden should be lifelike or realistic 
representations of the persons they depict, not abstract or modernist 
representations.

(v) The National Garden should be located on a site of natural beauty that 
enables visitors to enjoy nature, walk among the statues, and be inspired 
to learn about great figures of America's history. The site should be 
proximate to at least one major population center, and the site should not 
cause significant disruption to the local community.

(vi) As part of its civic education mission, the National Garden should 
also separately maintain a collection of statues for temporary display at 
appropriate sites around the United States that are accessible to the 
general public.

                Sec. 4. Commissioning of New Statues and Works of Art. 
                (a) The Task Force shall examine the appropriations 
                authority of the agencies represented on it in light of 
                the purpose and policy of this order. Based on its 
                examination of relevant authorities, the Task Force 
                shall make recommendations for the use of these 
                agencies' appropriations.

                    (b) To the extent appropriate and consistent with 
                applicable law and the other provisions of this order, 
                Task Force agencies that are authorized to provide for 
                the commissioning of statues or monuments shall, in 
                expending funds, give priority to projects involving 
                the commissioning of publicly accessible statues of 
                persons meeting the criteria described in section 
                3(b)(iii) of this order, with particular preference for 
                statues of the Founding Fathers, former Presidents of 
                the United States, leading abolitionists, and 
                individuals involved in the discovery of America.
                    (c) To the extent appropriate and consistent with 
                applicable law, these agencies shall prioritize 
                projects that will result in the installation of a 
                statue as described in subsection (b) of this section 
                in a community where a statue depicting a historically 
                significant American was removed or destroyed in 
                conjunction with the events described in section 1 of 
                this order.
                    (d) After consulting with the Task Force, the 
                Administrator of General Services shall promptly revise 
                and thereafter operate the General Service 
                Administration's (GSA's) Art in Architecture (AIA) 
                Policies and Procedures, GSA Acquisition Letter V-10-
                01, and Part 102-77 of title 41, Code of Federal 
                Regulations, to prioritize the commission of works of 
                art that portray historically significant Americans or 
                events of American historical significance or 
                illustrate the ideals upon which our Nation was 
                founded. Priority should be given to public-facing 
                monuments to former Presidents of the United States and 
                to individuals and events relating to the discovery of 
                America, the founding of the United States, and the 
                abolition of slavery. Such works of art should be 
                designed to be appreciated by the general public and by 
                those who use and interact with Federal buildings. 
                Priority should be given to this policy above other 
                policies contained in Part 102-77 of title 41, Code of 
                Federal Regulations, and revisions made pursuant to 
                this subsection shall be made to supersede any 
                regulatory provisions of AIA that may conflict with or 
                otherwise impede advancing the purposes of this 
                subsection.
                    (e) When a statue or work of art commissioned 
                pursuant to this section is meant to depict a 
                historically significant American, the statue or work 
                of art shall be a lifelike or realistic representation 
                of that person, not an abstract or modernist 
                representation.

                Sec. 5. Educational Programming. The Chairperson of the 
                NEH shall prioritize the allocation of funding to 
                programs and projects that educate Americans about the 
                founding documents and founding ideals of the United 
                States, as appropriate and to the extent consistent 
                with applicable law, including section 956 of title 20, 
                United States Code. The founding documents include the 
                Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the 
                Federalist Papers. The founding ideals include equality 
                under the law, respect for inalienable individual 
                rights, and representative self-government. Within 90 
                days of the conclusion of each Fiscal Year from 2021 
                through 2026, the Chairperson

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                shall submit a report to the President through the 
                Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy that 
                identifies funding allocated to programs and projects 
                pursuant to this section.

                Sec. 6. Protection of National Garden and Statues 
                Commissioned Pursuant to this Order. The Attorney 
                General shall apply section 3 of Executive Order 13933 
                of June 26, 2020 (Protecting American Monuments, 
                Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal 
                Violence), with respect to violations of Federal law 
                regarding the National Garden and all statues 
                commissioned pursuant to this order.

                Sec. 7. Definition. The term ``historically significant 
                American'' means an individual who was, or became, an 
                American citizen and was a public figure who made 
                substantive contributions to America's public life or 
                otherwise had a substantive effect on America's 
                history. The phrase also includes public figures such 
                as Christopher Columbus, Junipero Serra, and the 
                Marquis de La Fayette, who lived prior to or during the 
                American Revolution and were not American citizens, but 
                who made substantive historical contributions to the 
                discovery, development, or independence of the future 
                United States.

                Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    July 3, 2020.

[FR Doc. 2020-14872
Filed 7-7-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F0-P