Third Actors from DC, Virginia, and Maryland are continuing to speak out against the giant Arch that Trump wants to erect in front of the Arlington Cemetery.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Third Actors organized 3 days of vigil and protest against the Arch. The weekend’s events included rallies at the vigil base camp near the Lincoln monument; marches across the Memorial Bridge; sign-waving at motorists during rush hour; exuberant singing along with the Rapid Response Choir and the DC Activist Street Band; and, at nightfall, the DMV team’s signature light projections, illuminated on the mock arch.
Carrying the fight forward, Third Actors have given testimony before two of the bodies that need to approve the Arch–the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC), both now loaded with Trump appointees. Most recently, Third Actors testified at a second public meeting of the NCPC on July 9, including DC Third Actors Geoff Barron and Jim Lardner.
Here’s how Geoff summed up the meeting:
Today’s hearing lasted from 1 until almost 5 pm. There was opening discussion by the commissioners, including about the challenges of getting pedestrians to the arch. There’d have to be multiple crosswalks and stop lights around the circle. (Can you imagine what it’d be like at rush hour?)
More than 30 testified. Every single one spoke against the arch. Many detailed why the process is not following federal law and/or told powerful personal stories.
After all the testimony, there was discussion. A lot of it centered on the 160-foot height limit under federal law and if there might be a way to get around that. They agreed they’d have to talk about this some more at their next meeting – apparently in September. They also thanked us speakers for coming out to present, even said they’d learned from us… ideas that might help resolve issues to make the arch more feasible. They took a vote to determine if they were basically in favor of trying to make the arch work if problem areas, including the height limit, could be ironed out. Here’s how the vote went: three “present” (abstained), one “no,” and eight “yes.” The yeses carried the day. Shocking!!
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I am Geoffrey Barron, on behalf of Third Act DC. Third Act is a national organization mobilizing older Americans to help protect our climate and our democracy. Founded four years ago, the organization includes 100,000 volunteers in 29 states. Third Act DC is the organization’s DC chapter, with 1200 local members.
We members of Third Act DC join the many hundreds of individuals and organizations who overwhelmingly have made it clear in testimony before the Commission of Fine Arts and before you, that we do not want an arch at Memorial Circle. It will take over, block, and dominate the vistas and the reverential spaces of and between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery that planners designed and visitors have cherished for generations.
In addition, I speak here in line with Third Act’s mission to protect democracy. In 1986, the US Congress passed a law, the Commemorative Works Act, specifically to ensure democratic accountability and participation in the approving of new monuments in Washington. Yet the Trump administration is coming to your commission, and mounting a legal battle, not to follow the intent and guidelines of that legislation, but rather to attempt an end run around it. And, as with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, is already having initial work done at the site.
As we celebrate our 250 th anniversary, I trust that everyone in this room cherishes Lincoln’s vision of our government as “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We elect presidents in the hope and trust that they will forward this vision and work on behalf of all Americans. That is their job. But that is not what President Trump is doing with this arch. He is attempting to impose his will and his desires on the American people and the people of Washington.
Our monuments, like our government, should be of the people, by the people, and for the people. When a leader attempts to impose his will on his people without their consent, when he uses the powers of his office to try to skirt the law or act in spite of it, we call that authoritarianism. We could also call it bullying. A monument that is erected through bullying will be resented and reviled by the people it is imposed on. Do you commissioners want to be a part of that?
Thank you.
Jim Lardner’s testimony
Many people have made many arguments against this proposal. Others have talked about the impact on Arlington National cemetery and the experience of visiting there. You have heard testimony about the carefully constructed sightline from Arlington House to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington monument and the Capitol, and about the complicated mix of feelings evoked by it – feelings of grief and reflection as well as pride and gratitude.
I would like to home in on one simple point – something all of us know in our bones: this Arch would never be built, would never even be considered (with or without modifications), but for the fancy of one man – one would-be autocrat who, in the tradition of thuggish dictators around the world and throughout history, likes to erect over-the-top monuments that tell a simple jingoistic national story of winning and triumph and smug self-congratulation.
The thing is, they cannot build those monuments alone. They need helpers – not just paid laborers and contractors to do the physical work, but also the members of bodies like yours. They need public officials charged, in theory, with making a careful and independent evaluation, and bringing their best professional judgment to bear, but willing, in practice, to set other considerations aside in order to satisfy the whims of the Supreme Leader.
The English language is rich with words for such people – sycophants, bootlickers, lackeys, suck-ups, toadies. So far, that is how the majority of this panel’s members have acted.
While you cannot, by yourselves, guarantee the Arch’s construction, you have it in your power, right here and now, to decide if that is how you truly wish to go on defining yourselves and to be remembered when America, as it surely will, thinks better of this moment of ugly national leadership.