President Trump was attending the national championship game between Alabama and Georgia Monday night in Atlanta, where he also signed a law creating a national historic park dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Trump was greeted on Air Force One in Atlanta by Alveda King, the niece of the civil-rights icon, as he signed the legislation. The measure, sponsored by Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat, re-designates the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic site as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park, making it the first national historical park in the state of Georgia.
The move also expands the boundaries of the park to include the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, which served as the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the historic civil rights organization founded by Dr. King. It will allow the National Park Service to help preserve the temple’s historic integrity.
“Through his life and work, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made America more just and free,” said presidential spokesman Hogan Gidley. “This important historical park tells his story, and this bill will help ensure that the park continues to tell Dr. King’s story for generations to come.”
At the game, Mr. Trump planned to meet with former Georgia running back and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, a Trump supporter who played for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL when Mr. Trump owned the team in the early 1990s.
“We’ve talked and we’re going to meet tonight,” Mr. Walker, 55, said on Fox News. “I haven’t seen him in a while. A lot of people don’t know I played for him in the USFL. We’ve been friends ever since. We still work together on some things — well we did before he became the big man on campus, as you may say. And so tonight, I’m excited to see him.”
Mr. Walker designed Mr. Trump “the frontrunner” in August 2015, nearly one year before Mr. Trump won the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
“I’m glad he’s at the game, because he loves football,” Mr. Walker said. “It’s sad what’s happened with all the kneeling and standing and all that, because Donald Trump is a great man, he’s a great president and I wish people could understand that.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.