The National Park Service has directed the removal of three quotes — about slavery, immigration and memorializing death — from the Bunker Hill Monument in Massachusetts. It’s part of a broader push by the Trump administration to strip what it describes as “corrosive ideology” from government-run institutions, according to new reports.
The historic site in Boston commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775, becoming the first major military engagement of the Revolutionary War. It includes banners emblazoned with quotes from various figures, seen by thousands of visitors every year.
One visitor recently groused to park staff about a quote, describing it as “woke,” three sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. This triggered a broader review of the site, leading the agency to mandate that a trio of quotes be taken down.
“Through President Trump, we have encouraged Americans to visit our cultural and historic sites and engage in meaningful conversations about the moments that have shaped our country,” a spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, told The Independent. “By telling the full story, every triumph, every challenge, and every step towards a more perfect union we strengthen our shared understanding and ensure that future generations inherit not just the land we love, but the truth of the journey that brought us here.”
“Efforts to transform a routine exhibit refresh into a story attacking President Trump and this administration is tired and the American people see through it,” the spokesperson added.
One of the quotes slated for removal comes from a 1971 editorial by a group of Vietnam War veterans.
It reads: “We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended…We as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life.”
Bestor Cram, one of the authors, told the Post that he is vehemently against scrubbing his anti-war quote, stating: “I‘m completely outraged with the administration wanting to essentially reinterpret history or erase history.”
A second quote set to be taken down was penned by G.B. Stebbins in 1846 in a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, a journalist and abolitionist, The Boston Globe reported.
“As we drew near to Boston, there stood Bunker Monument, towering up towards the heavens, as if in silent, bitter mockery of the millions of slaves guarded by the professed lovers of Liberty, who reared its lofty column,” Stebbins wrote.
The third excerpt deemed inappropriate by the Trump administration comes from an 1875 letter addressed “To Our Irish Societies.”
“Now that a public orator has declared that foreign-born men have no association with the men of the Revolution, it is our duty to show that in love of freedom and loyalty to the republic, the citizens of foreign birth take no second place,” the quote reads, per the Globe.
The attempt to scrub language from the site comes after Trump signed an executive order last March, directing the Interior Department to remove “corrosive” information at government-run institutions.
“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States,” the order reads.
This order has been broadly interpreted to apply to information about indigenous groups, gay rights, slavery and sexism, according to the Post.
Last year, officials reportedly ordered the removal of dozens of exhibits about slavery — including a photo depicting a slave’s scarred back — at multiple parks. And earlier this year, Trump administration officials reportedly directed parks staff to scrap signs addressing climate change and Native American history at more than a dozen locations across Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
The Trump administration has also proposed cutting the national parks system budget by $1 billion and turning over management to the states.
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