President Donald Trump said the World War II Memorial on the National Mall may be the next Washington landmark to get a makeover under his administration.
After launching a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Trump said during a Cabinet meeting this past week that he’s considering something similar for the fountain at the World War II Memorial.
“Now we’re looking at the World War II fountain, because that’s also in pretty bad shape on the bottom,” Trump said.
Criticizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's appearance, Trump had it drained, resurfaced and painted “American flag blue.” He indicated the same thing could happen with the World War II Memorial fountain.
“We’re going to duplicate it, I think, maybe with a slightly different color actually, we’ll go with a lighter color,” Trump said.
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The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., is shown Feb. 28.
The real-estate-developer-turned-president has quickly moved in his second term to put his stamp not just on policy, but on the physical landscape of Washington. Among the projects: Demolishing the White House East Wing to build a new ballroom and moving forward on a new 250-foot "Triumphal Arch" on Memorial Circle near the Arlington National Cemetery.
While Trump has framed the projects as much-needed improvements, they sparked court challenges, backlash from historic preservationists and criticism about the lack of public input.
The nonprofit Cultural Landscape Foundation is suing over the application of blue paint to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying in a press release that "changing the Reflecting Pool’s color, a key character-defining feature of the site, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, should be subject to reviews … under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and other laws.”
Trump said Wednesday that his overhaul of the reflecting pool will be completed before July 4, when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial contains a large fountain pool surrounded by bronze bas-relief panels with information on the war, granite columns representing every U.S. state and territory, two large “victory pavilions” and a wall of gold stars, according to the National Park Service.
Contributing: Bart Jansen, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Michelle Del Rey, USA Today
