logo
Pete Hegseth is skirting law by bringing back Confederate names of army bases

Pete Hegseth is skirting law by bringing back Confederate names of army bases

The Guardian5 days ago
Since Donald Trump returned to office this year, his secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has ripped the new names off a series of US army bases and brought back their old traitorous Confederate names.
His actions have angered Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress, prompting a rare rebuke of the Trump administration by the Republican-controlled Congress last Tuesday. The GOP-led House of Representatives Armed Services Committee voted on 15 July to block Hegseth from renaming the bases after Confederates. Two Republicans voted with the Democrats on the committee to pass the measure, which was an amendment to the Pentagon's budget bill.
'What this administration is doing, particularly this secretary of defense, is sticking his finger in the eye of Congress,' said Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican representative who voted to stop Hegseth.
Hegseth's move elicited bipartisan anger because it flouted the law; Congress passed legislation in January 2021 to create a commission to choose new names for the bases named for Confederates and mandated that its recommendations be implemented by the Pentagon. That law was passed over a veto by Trump in the final days of his first term, and the name changes were later implemented by the Pentagon during the Biden administration.
The law is still on the books, and so in order to return to the old Confederate names, Hegseth has openly played games with their namesakes.
The secretary claims he has renamed the bases after American soldiers from throughout US history who were not Confederates. But they all conveniently have the same last names as the original Confederate namesakes of the bases. For example, Fort Bragg is now supposedly named for Roland Bragg, who was an army paratrooper in the second world war; Fort Benning is now supposedly named for Fred Benning, a soldier who served in the army in the first world war.
Before the House vote, Hegseth's efforts to skirt the law were also challenged in the Senate. In a hearing in June, Angus King, a senator from Maine, told Hegseth that he was returning the bases to the names of 'people who took up arms against their country on behalf of slavery'. Hegseth insisted that the Pentagon had found non-Confederates with the same names to stay within 'the limits of what Congress allowed us to do'. But during the same hearing, Hegseth briefly dropped the pretense that he wasn't returning to the original Confederate names. He argued that 'there is a legacy, a connection' for veterans with the old names.
King replied that Hegseth's actions were 'an insult to the people of the United States'.
Above all, Hegseth's actions show a troubling ignorance of the lives of the original Confederate namesakes; their easily-researched backgrounds reveal what terrible role models they make for modern American military personnel.
Braxton Bragg was one of the most incompetent Confederate generals of the civil war. His subordinates repeatedly and clandestinely tried to get him fired, with one writing to the Confederate secretary of war that 'nothing but the hand of God can save us or help us as long as we have our present commander'. Bragg finally lost his command after he was out-generaled by Union General Ulysses S Grant and his army was routed at the Battle of Chattanooga in 1863. One of the few biographies written about him is entitled Braxton Bragg, the Most Hated Man in the Confederacy.
And yet Bragg lives on today as the namesake of the largest and most important military base in the United States Army.
Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina was originally built in 1918, as part of a rushed effort by the army to construct new bases after the United States entered the first world war. The site offered the army cheap and abundant land, and it quickly built a base and surrounding military reservation totaling 251 sq miles.
Eager to win local white support, the army agreed to name the new base after a Confederate; Bragg was chosen because he was originally from North Carolina. By the time the base was built, the civil war had been over for more than 50 years, yet the south was still in the grips of the 'the Lost Cause' theory of the war, which romanticized the civil war and held that the south had fought for state's rights, not slavery, and that the Confederacy had fielded better officers and men and had only lost because of the overwhelming resources of the north. By 1918, when Bragg's name was attached to the base, the generation of Confederate officers who hated him were gone, along with the memory of his military blunders.
That pattern held for a series of major bases built throughout the south during the first and second world wars. Fort Benning was also built in 1918 near Columbus, Georgia. At the request of the Columbus Rotary Club, the army named it for Henry Lewis Benning, who was best known as a pro-slavery political firebrand from Columbus who helped draft Georgia's ordinance of secession.
Benning was one of the pre-eminent white supremacists of his day, and he openly admitted that his state seceded because of slavery, not states rights. In one speech, he said that his state seceded because of a 'deep conviction on the part of Georgia that a separation from the North was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery … If things are allowed to go on as they are … we will have black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything. Is it supposed that the white race will stand for that?' Benning served in the Confederate army, but it was his political role as a proponent of a southern slavocracy that first brought him fame and prominence.
By the 21st century, there were still 10 army bases that were named for Confederates, and the Pentagon repeatedly resisted efforts to change their names, arguing that tradition outweighed the fact that the bases were named for traitors who had fought to preserve slavery. The Confederate base names were finally changed after the 2020 George Floyd protests; Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty, while Fort Benning became Fort Moore, named for Vietnam War hero Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Moore. (Mel Gibson played Hal Moore and Madeleine Stowe played Julia Moore in the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers.)
But those new names didn't survive Trump's return to office.
Hegseth hasn't stopped with army bases. The Pentagon has announced it will strip the name off the US navy ship Harvey Milk, which was named for the gay rights pioneer who was assassinated in 1978, and rename it for Oscar V Peterson, a sailor who won the Congressional Medal of Honor during the second world war.
But one thing is certain: Braxton Bragg's civil war contemporaries would be shocked to discover that a man so widely derided as a loser and a martinet during his lifetime is still at the center of a national debate 160 years after the war ended. During the war, one Confederate newspaper editor described him as a man with 'an iron hand and a wooden head'.
Grant, the man who so badly beat Bragg during the war, took great pleasure in making fun of Bragg and his ridiculous behavior when he later wrote his memoirs. Grant recounted one infamous episode involving Bragg from the time before the civil war when both men served in the small, pre-war US army.
'On one occasion, when stationed at a post … (Bragg) was commanding one of the companies and at the same time acting as post quartermaster … As commander of the company he made a requisition upon the quartermaster – himself – for something he wanted. As quartermaster he declined to fill the requisition and endorsed on the back of it his reasons for so doing. As company commander he responded to this, urging that his requisition called for nothing but what he was entitled to, and that it was the duty of the quartermaster to fill it. As quartermaster he still persisted that he was right … Bragg referred the whole matter to the commanding officer of the post. The latter exclaimed: 'My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the army, and now you are quarrelling with yourself!'
In his memoirs, Grant wrote that Bragg was 'naturally disputatious'.
So maybe Braxton Bragg would fit in perfectly with Donald Trump after all.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Why is Trump visiting the UK?
Why is Trump visiting the UK?

The Independent

time9 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Why is Trump visiting the UK?

Donald Trump will be visiting the UK for the first of two scheduled trips this year as he plans to land in Scotland on Friday for a five-day private trip. This will be followed by an official state visit only a few months later, with King Charles III set to welcome the US president from 17 to 19 September. Mr Trump is expected to arrive at Prestwick Airport in the evening, before heading over to his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire. He will leave the country at some point on Tuesday. Later in the year, the three-day state visit will see the US president meet the King, whom he first met during his first presidential term. It's also likely he will appear alongside Queen Camilla and prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. The US president was publicly invited on a state visit by Sir Keir during his audience in the White House in February. Hand-delivering an invitation from King Charles III, the prime minister said the visit would be 'unprecedented' and 'historic'. 'I think the last state visit was a tremendous success,' he said. 'His Majesty the King wants to make this even better.' Responding, Mr Trump said: 'That's a great, great honour ... that's really something,' adding: 'The answer is yes, and we look forward to being there and honouring the King.' What is Donald Trump planning to do in Scotland? After visiting his golf course in South Ayrshire, Mr Trump is expected to head over to his Menie golf course in Aberdeenshire. He then plans to open up a new course dedicated to his Scottish mother, who grew up on the Isle of Lewis. His presence will result in a significant operation from Police Scotland and thousands of officers, who are expected to deal with mass protests around his golf courses and major Scottish cities. Mr Trump will be greeted by Scottish secretary Ian Murray when he lands, with the minister pledging to give the American leader a 'warm welcome'. He will meet with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his stay, when the pair will discuss the UK -US trade deal. The US president will also meet with first minister John Swinney, who said ahead of the visit: 'Scotland shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries. 'That partnership remains steadfast through economic, cultural and ancestral links – including of course, with the president himself.' What has been the criticism of Trump's visit? Both Mr Trump's personal visit to Scotland, and later state visit, have been criticised by campaigners. Ahead of Friday's visit, a spokesperson for Stop Trump Scotland said: 'The people of Scotland don't want to roll out a welcome mat for Donald Trump, whose government is accelerating the spread of climate breakdown and fascism around the world.' Several MPs and campaigners have also spoken out against the state visit invitation, arguing that Mr Trump's divisive political views mean he should not receive the honour. In April, Labour MP Kate Osbourne wrote to Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle asking him to prevent Mr Trump from addressing parliament. The Newcastle MP also tabled a parliamentary motion, signed by 19 other MPs, which states it would be 'inappropriate for President Trump to address parliament' due to his record on "misogyny, racism and xenophobia'. However, White House sources have said the president had not planned to address parliament. The timing of his visit also coincides with when parliament is in recess, likely removing the possibility. When was Trump's last official visit to the UK? Donald Trump 's first official state visit to the UK took place from 3 to 5 June 2019, around two years into his first presidential term. Alongside first lady Melania Trump, the US president met Queen Elizabeth II after arriving in the gardens of Buckingham Palace via helicopter. This was followed by a visit to Westminster Abbey, and later a state banquet with then-prime minister Theresa May in attendance. The event took place a year later than initially planned, after a planned state visit was downgraded to a one-day 'working visit' in July 2018. A major protest was held in London before his July 2018 visit, with around 250,000 demonstrators reported to be in attendance. Organised by the 'Stop Trump Coalition', the event saw a giant, inflatable Mr Trump dressed as a baby fly over London. A similar protest the following year against the delayed state visit drew thousands of attendees but did not reach the numbers of the 2018 protest. Are there protests against the visits? The Scottish wing of the Stop Trump Coalition has planned a 'festival of resistance' against the US president's private visit to the country on Saturday, the day after his arrival. These will take place in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dumfries. The campaign group has also confirmed it is organising a national demonstration against Mr Trump's state visit on 17 September, with attendees encouraged to gather at London's Embankment. Further protests are planned, the group has said, including one near Windsor Castle. Stop Trump Coalition spokesperson Seema Syeda said: 'This will be a massive protest against Trump's state visit ... Trump and his authoritarian politics are not welcome here. 'We know that Trump is deeply unpopular with the public. We mobilised hundreds of thousands of people against Trump during his first term, and he has only got worse since then.'

The National newspaper front page as Donald Trump visits Scotland
The National newspaper front page as Donald Trump visits Scotland

The National

time10 minutes ago

  • The National

The National newspaper front page as Donald Trump visits Scotland

THE National's front page on Friday is a nod towards the US president's upcoming visit to Scotland. Donald Trump is set to land in Scotland on Friday evening, and will spend the next five days in the country. During this time, he is set to meet both UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney. READ MORE: LIVE: Latest updates as Donald Trump set to arrive in Scotland He is also set to be welcomed off the plane by Scotland Secretary Ian Murray. Friday's front page pays tribute to the US president - without actually naming him. Scotland National newspaper Donald Trump front page The headline of the front page reads: "Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland". It then goes on to say: "Republican leader, who was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, will visit golf courses." In 2023, Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to buy her silence, as well as facing sexual assault allegations dating back to the 1970s. Why is Trump going to Scotland? The US president is primarily visiting Scotland to open a new golf course. Trump will open an 18-hole course in Menie, Aberdeenshire. He will also visit his Trump Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire. Although it's been branded a "private visit", Trump is set to meet both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney.

Protest against American president Donald Trump to take place in Dumfries
Protest against American president Donald Trump to take place in Dumfries

Daily Record

time40 minutes ago

  • Daily Record

Protest against American president Donald Trump to take place in Dumfries

Dumfries and Galloway Palestine Solidarity have organised a Trump-themed demonstration to coincide with the president's visit to Scotland. A protest against Donald Trump is due to take place in Dumfries this weekend. ‌ The American president is due to jet into Scotland today to visit two of his golf courses. ‌ He'll also hold trade talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. ‌ And that has led to an anti-Trump protest being organised for Dumfries town centre on Saturday afternoon. Dumfries and Galloway Palestine Solidarity have been holding regular Saturday protests in the High Street over the last few months. And they have now decided to hold a Trump-themed demonstration to coincide with the visit. ‌ It also comes in the same week US Congress voted against a proposal to cut military aid to Israel by $500 million. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. ‌ John Dennis of Dumfries and Galloway Trades Union has looked out placards from a previous demonstration and people are encouraged to bring their own signs and flags. There will also be songs, speeches and poetry. The protest starts at the Plainstanes at 2pm.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store