Amidst the dust-up over the renaming of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, “The Donald Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts” — with Democrats livid at the renaming — a central fact is missing.
Which is to say the Center was already renamed once, and received bipartisan support.
Specifically, the Center’s main presidential backing came from Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And the name for the new center created with Eisenhower’s support was “The National Cultural Center.” Also, one of the theaters in the Center was named after Eisenhower.
But after the assassination of President Kennedy, Congress changed the name of the Center, from “The National Cultural Center” to “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Which is to say, Republicans learned that Democrats, if the opportunity appeared, would not hesitate to name various buildings or even airports after their favorite presidents.
In New York, that meant dispatching Idlewild Airport and renaming it the John F. Kennedy International Airport. This renaming business went on all over the country, with Democrats of the day finding opportunity to proceed in this fashion.
In Washington, that meant the U.S. State Department would bear the name of Democrat President Harry Truman. The Justice Department would now be the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice, RFK once was attorney general. Along the banks of the Potomac, a garden grove area was renamed for Democrat President Lyndon Johnson and also wife, Lady Bird Johnson. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was renamed for former Democrat Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
Eventually, Republicans caught on to the game, and today — over the resistance of Democrats — one can fly into the Reagan Washington National Airport and also visit the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington. The CIA found its Langley headquarters, soon named for former President George H.W. Bush, also a former CIA Director. And long ago, the then-new airport outside of Washington was named for Republican Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. And a nice-sized island in the middle of the Potomac is named for GOP President Theodore Roosevelt.
And oh yes. Headed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the interstate? You will find yourself cruising on the President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Expressway. A tribute to the Scranton-born Democrat president.
On Capitol Hill, the House and Senate office buildings had these name games. On the House side, the Buildings are named for Democrat Congressman Sam Rayburn, Republicans Joseph Cannon and Nicholas Longworth (all Speakers), and for House Republican Leader and also President Gerald Ford. On the Senate side, the names are the Richard Russell Building — Russell, the longtime Democrat Senator from Georgia — and also the Everett Dirksen Building, he, the longtime Republican Senate leader. And last but not least, the Hart Building, named for Michigan Democrat Phil Hart. Also on the Senate side is a bell tower named for longtime GOP Senator Robert Taft, the son of President William Howard Taft.
The point is obvious. Adding President Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center is nothing but normal by Washington standards. And it is a very safe bet it will not be the last time a President or other Washington luminary has a building or an airport or something else named for him or her.
But leave it to Democrats to try and make a fuss over one of the most standard practices in the city. A practice they repeatedly use themselves.
Shocking.
Not.
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