When President Donald Trump revived a plan from his first term to build a statue garden of American heroes, his list of historical figures to honor included a folk singer who may have balked at the distinction.
Seventy-five years ago, Woody Guthrie, a balladeer who aligned himself with the poor and the working class, wrote a series of songs targeting his then-landlord in Brooklyn for not renting to African Americans. That developer was Fred Trump, the president’s father.
Last month, Donald Trump signed an executive order resurrecting a plan from his first term to construct a “National Garden of American Heroes.” Tied to next year’s 250th anniversary of the United States, the garden outlined by Trump would include 250 statues of people meant to inspire pride and patriotism, including civil rights leaders, artists, entrepreneurs and military generals.
The former Poet Laureate Robert Frost is on the list, as is Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and the jazz legend Louis Armstrong. Guthrie, an Oklahoma native probably best known for the song “This Land is Your Land,” also made the list of notables Trump initially presented in January 2021.
