In a controversial move, Donald Trump’s Pentagon is overseeing the return of a prominent portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to the library at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The painting, which is a large canvas that shows Lee with an enslaved man who is holding his horse, was taken down from the institution’s library after a 2020 law was passed. That law was aimed at getting rid of tributes to the Confederacy from all military installations.
The law was created after a time of widespread national protests that were spurred by the death of George Floyd. A commission was then set up to carry out the law, and it was given the job of reviewing and removing Confederate symbols from military sites. According to the New York Times, in 2022, the commission told West Point to take down all such items, which led to the painting being put into storage.
A communications director for the army, Rebecca Hodson, said that the institution is ready to put historical assets back to their original state and location. She stated, “At West Point, the United States Military Academy is prepared to restore historical names, artifacts, and assets to their original form and place. Under this administration, we honor our history and learn from it – we don’t erase it.” So Trump is making sure to honor the Confederate leader Robert E. Lee.
We are honoring one of the top generals fighting for slavery
This decision is part of a larger, ongoing debate about the removal of monuments that honor figures linked to the Confederacy. The effort to take down these monuments, which is often described as needing a lot of persistence, has been met with resistance from some political figures. President Trump has often said that the renaming of military bases is an attack on American traditions.
He has expressed the opinion that Lee was one of the greatest military strategists. Trump said, “Robert E Lee is considered by many Generals to be the greatest strategist of them all, except for Gettysburg,” which was the major point at which the Civil War really turned in favor of the United States. This administration removed a decorated Air Force general for little reason, but still honors one who betrayed our nation.
WTF
— George Leroy Tirebiter (@MarkKepes) August 29, 2025
Pentagon Orders Reinstallation of Robert E. Lee Portrait, Complete With Slave
The portrait was taken down at the U.S. Military Academy three years ago With tRumps backing Pete Hegsethhas waged a war on what he calls “wokeness” in the military. pic.twitter.com/FyVUzkG5MD
The push to bring back Confederate symbols has been led by both the former president and the current defense secretary. For example, the defense secretary has been a strong supporter of putting back a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, which Congress had previously said should be removed.
In a social media post from August, he said that he believed the statue should never have been taken down. He also took steps to bring back the names of Confederate generals at army bases over the summer. He did this in a way that he believed followed the rules of the 2020 law. The names of the bases, like Fort Bragg and Fort Lee, were changed to honor soldiers who did not fight for the Confederacy, but they kept the names of the original Confederate honorees.
The portrait itself has a complicated history. It was first put up at West Point in the early 1950s. This was during a mid-twentieth-century movement that worked to portray Robert E. Lee as a celebrated figure in American military history. However, West Point was also where Trump rambled on about his fear of drag queens, so it’s a place where strange things happen.
