The Jefferson Memorial and the U.S. Capitol are seen next to the Tidal Basin in an aerial photo taken on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22, 2024.
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The White House has fired six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on the design of monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings. The seven-member commission is made up of experts in the fields of architecture, art, urban and landscape design. Since its creation in 1910, the commission has reviewed plans for everything from Arlington National Cemetery to the Maya Lin Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
As first reported Washington PostThe commission members who were fired are Bruce Redman Becker, Peter D. Cook, Lisa E. Delplace, William J. Lenihan, Justin Garrett Moore and Vice Chairman Hazel Ruth Edwards. The chairman's position, now vacant, was taken by Billy Jian, one of the architects. working at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Lenihan confirmed in an email to NPR that the six were fired “immediately.”
In an email to NPR, the White House said it was “preparing to appoint a new panel that is more consistent with President Trump's 'America First' policies.”
commission members would advise President Trump its expected The White House Ballroom and its plans for a monument similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which he said would commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In an email to NPR, architect Bruce Redman Becker, one of the fired commission members, wrote that “no designs have yet been submitted for review.”
President Trump has not yet announced who the new commission members will be. During his first term, Justin Shubow, founder and president of the National Society for Civic Arts, served as White House Chairman. ballroom architect James McCrary was one of his commissioners.
In 2021, President Biden dismissed four commissioners appointed by Trump during his first term, including Shubow. Like Trump, Shubow is a champion of traditional and classical architecture.
The White House has not yet responded to NPR's request for comment.
