My Suggestions for President Trump's National Garden of American Heroes

President Trump addressed the nation on July 3, 2020 in front of Mount Rushmore as America was undergoing a paroxysm of cultural and heritage destruction. Statues were falling and burning, rioters rioting, looters looting, arsonists burning, and the famous becoming non-persons. Columbus, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant, Francis Scott Key, Colonel Shaw and the 54th Regiment, Abigail Adams, 9/11 Memorials, Emancipation statues. Churches defaced and burnt. Lenin remains standing in Seattle. Cultural nihilism was at work. The mobs controlled the streets of several cities. President Trump, in the height of the turmoil, announced the National Gallery of Heroes. 31 Americans will initially be memorialized in the National Garden. He signed an executive order to implement his proposal. The Garden will include “historically significant Americans” who “contributed positively to America throughout our history.” They can include the Founding Fathers, abolitionists, religious leaders, police officers “killed in the line of duty” and opponents of National Socialism (NAZI) and international socialism. It will be opened to public figure nominees “who made substantive contributions to America’s life or otherwise had a substantial effect on American history.” He specifically mentioned Christopher Columbus and Fr. Junipero Serra. President Trump was sending a message to America. He expressly acknowledged that none would have led “perfect lives.” Of course, we all have human frailty. Few Americans in history could claim sainthood. The President’s initial nominees: John Adams, Susan B Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolly Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, Orville and Wilbur Wright. 8 women, 5 African Americans. Quite a worthy selection, albeit tilted to the conservative side. Two problems exist with the list. The first is the initial listing of only 31great Americans. America has had hundreds of thousands, in not millions of founders, builders, and heroes, often unsung. No listing can include them all. The second problem is that so many of today’s young people are clueless as to who these people are. The President provided for additions. Here are some suggestions in no particular order, with more to follow later: Jayne Addams Rachel Carson John Muir Congressman John Lewis and Diane Nash, stalwarts of the Civil Rights Movement Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, The Greensboro Four Tuskegee Airmen Cesar Chavez & Deloris Huerta, co-founders of the United Farm Workers Madam C. J. Walker, pioneering African American entrepreneur Amadeo Peter Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, brought retail banking to the people Henry Ford Andrew Carnegie Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla Alexander Graham Bell Steve Jobs Paul Allen and Bill Gates Juan Trippe Conrad Hilton and J. Willard Marriott Walt Disney Irving Berlin Bob Dylan Mark Twain John Paul Jones Thayer Mahan Dwight D Eisenhower Ulysses S Grant Baron von Steuben Lafayette Jim Bridger Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, and Chief Joseph Thomas Watson, father and son Theodore Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lyndon Baines Johnson Wesley Powell Jesse Owens Charles R Drew John Roebling Washington Roebling Samuel Gompers Walter Reuther Charles Lindberg James Madison Thurgood Marshall Ruth Bader Ginsberg A. Philip Randolph Floyd Mann Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Frederick Law Olmstead DeWitt Clinton Gorge Washington Carver President Trump’s goal is July 4, 2026, the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.