The Trump-Kennedy Center Kerfuffle

For Democrats, their name game bites back.

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 ...