Here’s a fun fact to store for a future Jeopardy episode: though the Performing Arts Center is named for President Kennedy, the idea for the institution was actually the brainchild of his predecessor, President Eisenhower. Ike set up a commission in 1955 for creating the then-unnamed center, which led to a mandate for the center to be built in DC as part of the National Cultural Center Act of 1958. To be fair to JFK, he did a ton of fundraising for the center, so it was an appropriate tribute when Congress voted to rename what had been dubbed the National Cultural Center for the slain president as a living memorial.
I took us down this trip of AP US History memory lane to make two points: 1) If another president’s name were ever to be added to the Kennedy Center, it should be Eisenhower’s. 2) It takes federal law to name (or rename) a national memorial. Of course, Donald Jennifer Trump satisfied neither criteria when he declared last December that the organization would henceforth be known as the Trump-Kennedy Center. Puh-lease. The only good thing Trump ever did for the Kennedy Center was staying away from it during his first term. Well, it took some time, but last month a judge finally told Trump to knock it off — literally. Trump was given two-weeks to scrape his name off the Kennedy Center building. He waited until the last day of the deadline, this past Friday, June 12, but finally his name is gone from the building and anything else related to the Center.
According to The Washington Post, employees were told to scrub mail signatures, letterhead and other documents. They were given until June 12 to modify signs, brochures, ID cards and the center’s website. The initial name change to “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center” took place in December 2025 and included adding lettering to the outside of the iconic building. It also adjusted signage around Washington, D.C., on local transportation and even to items in the gift shop.
But in late May, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper found that the MAGA-aligned Kennedy Center board violated the law when they added his name to the Kennedy Center’s exterior as well as its website and marketing materials. Ruling the name change illegal, Judge Cooper declared that the name had to be reversed to its original state within two weeks.
Last week’s memo to staff, obtained by The Washington Post, marked the first sign that the Kennedy Center’s board plans to comply with the judge’s order.
“We are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership,” center spokesperson Roma Daravi said in a statement to PEOPLE.
…Daravi previously told The Associated Press that the center is “confident that on appeal, the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”
“We remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy,” Daravi told the AP.
Trump has been committed to making a number of changes to the White House and surrounding national monuments. Since his second term began, he has proposed new monuments, pushed ahead with his new White House ballroom and renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be more “American flag blue,” among other efforts.
First of all, HUGE shout out to Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, because she’s the patriot who’s been spearheading this legal fight to restore the Kennedy Center’s name ever since Trump desecrated it in December 2025. Second, we (the people) scored another big legal victory on Friday. The Kennedy Center wasn’t the only institution Trump was trying to de-woke-ify (fitting for a president who can’t stop falling asleep in meetings), and last Friday a different judge gave a similar ruling on national monuments and parks, ordering Trump to reinstall exhibits and placards that he’s been removing for over year. You know, anything that had to do with radical leftist propaganda like climate change, civil rights, or the history of slavery in the US. While the Kennedy Center deadline came in just before Trump’s 80th, this new ruling gave the Trump admin 21 days to reverse their censorship efforts at national monuments and parks, meaning everything (i.e., the truth) has to be restored just in time for America’s 250th. I LOVE these bday presents for both Trump and the US.
photos credit: Andrew Thomas/CNP/INSTARimages