Kansas’ Eisenhower was a great American. Army base should honor him, not a Confederate
An Army base in Georgia may soon bear the name of Kansas favorite son Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In a release before Memorial Day, a special congressional Naming Commission recommended renaming Fort Gordon in Georgia as Fort Eisenhower. “Dwight Eisenhower’s extensive, innovative, and effective military experience and leadership shaped our modern world,” the commission found.
The honor is obvious and commendable. Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene, Kansas, was elected president in 1952. He was Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, and supervised the momentous D-Day invasion of France.
The commission’s recommendation is part of a broader effort to reexamine the names of military installations and assets now linked with members of the Confederacy. The base, near Augusta, Georgia, is currently named for John Brown Gordon, a Confederate general, slave owner and rumored member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The effort to remove the names of Confederate officers and politicians from American military installations is long overdue. “We wanted names and values that underpin the core responsibility of the military, to defend the Constitution,” said a statement from Michelle Howard, a retired admiral who chairs the Naming Commission.
Of course. Eisenhower’s defense of the Constitution and its values are clear: He sent U.S. troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, when it resisted school integration. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Eisenhower understood the nation’s founding document.
The commission will issue its final recommendations later this year.
No bases in Kansas or Missouri are on the list for review. The commission will examine three street names at the Jefferson Barracks Military Post Army and Air National Guard base in St. Louis: One of them is named for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.
The Naming Commission recommended changes for eight other installations, including Fort Benning, Fort Bragg and Fort A.P. Hill, all named after Confederate officers. It’s long past time to change those names, too.
Eisenhower was a great American, and an exemplary Kansan. On Memorial Day, we salute the Naming Commission’s recognition of his service.
