Build the Arch: America at 250 Deserves a Monument Worthy of Its Heroes, and the Lawsuits Should Not Stop It
Virginia and the District of Columbia sued on Saturday to block President Trump's 250-foot Triumphal Arch at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery. The critics have real questions about traffic, height limits and process. But a nation that built the Gateway Arch and the Lincoln Memorial should not be afraid to build something grand again.
By Clara Hughes
Every great nation builds monuments to its victories and its dead. America did it on the National Mall, at Gettysburg and on the riverfront in St. Louis. In this, the country's 250th year, President Trump wants to do it again, at the place where the Arlington Memorial Bridge meets Arlington National Cemetery. On Saturday, the governments of Virginia and the District of Columbia went to federal court to stop him. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed suit on October 31 to block construction of the Triumphal Arch planned for Memorial Circle, NBC News and USA Today reported. "The construction of the Arch will inflict immediate and irreparable harm on the District and Virginia," they wrote, according to NBC News. Jones went further in a statement, calling the arch "President Trump's illegal vanity project" and "an affront to this hallowed ground." That is a strong charge. It deserves a strong answer. The White House gave one. "The Triumphal Arch in Memorial Circle is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington,