Trump vows to bring back Fort Bragg name has even some Republicans balking

The GOP lawmaker who introduced legislation in June 2020 to lead to the renaming of U.S. military bases and other sites honoring Confederate leaders said Fort Liberty, N.C. will remain Fort Liberty despite a recent campaign promise from former President Donald Trump to bring back the installation’s familiar old name: Fort Bragg.

Last week, Mr. Trump told a campaign town hall event in Fayetteville, N.C. that the sprawling Army post, the home of the famed 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Forces, would revert to its previous name of Fort Bragg if he was elected. Mr. trump and other critics said the name was part of a “woke” movement in the military that was trying to erase parts of American history.

“The first question that I’m asked: ’Should we change the name from Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg?’” Mr. Trump said, prompting heavy applause from the crowd. “So here’s what we do: We get elected [and] I’m doing it.”

Not so fast, said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general. Congress established the commission that renamed the military bases as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021. Mr. Trump vetoed the overall legislation, but the veto was overridden by majorities in both houses of Congress, the only veto of Mr. Trump’s four-term that was not sustained.

“The law was you had to get rid of the Confederate names, and the commission was to determine what those names should be,” Mr. Bacon said Wednesday in Politico. “The law was passed, and it’s not going to go backward.”

Fort Liberty covers about 250 square miles with more than 52,000 personnel, making it the largest military base in the world by population. It was established in 1918 as an artillery training ground and named for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a West Point graduate who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War and was known primarily for his battlefield failures.

Fort Liberty was one of many military bases hurriedly constructed before and during World War I. They were often named for Confederate generals to generate support for the war effort in the South.

“This was a deal made with the Jim Crow South, between 1910 and 1930 roughly, and I’m not a Jim Crow South guy,” Mr. Bacon told Politico.

The decision to rename the former Fort Bragg and eight other Army posts followed widespread protests in the country that were triggered by the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

“As the most diverse and integrated part of American society, it is only right that our installations bear the names of military heroes who represent the best ideals of our republic,” Mr. Bacon said in a statement released after the legislation was introduced. “We owe this to ourselves, to our military, our veterans, and to every American who will answer the call. Now is the time to embrace our values, ‘that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.”