As a general, Dwight D. Eisenhower led Allied troops to victory over Adolf Hitler’s racist and genocidal regime.
As president, he enforced the Supreme Court’s order to desegregate U.S. schools by ordering troops to Arkansas to protect Black students enrolled in Little Rock’s formerly all-white Central High School.
And now, more than 50 years after his death, Kansas’ favorite son has won an additional victory against white supremacy. On Friday, the U.S. Army completed the process of rebranding its bases that had previously been named for Confederate generals. Fort Gordon in Georgia received a new — and much more honorable — name: Fort Eisenhower.
“He’s absolutely the right namesake,” Army Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton, the fort’s commander, told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.
We agree, and not just because we’re admirers of Eisenhower’s accomplishments. The fort was previously named for Confederate Gen. John Brown Gordon, who led troops in a failed rebellion against the United States — a slave owner who after the Civil War was reputedly the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia.
That made him a traitor twice over to America and its ideals. Gordon’s name never deserved to adorn a U.S. military base.
Last week’s long-overdue rebranding came as a result of the work by the Naming Commission created in 2020 by Congress. After the widespread protests over George Floyd’s death, it was clear to many Democrats and Republicans that honoring former Confederate generals — who fought a war to preserve slavery — was utterly inappropriate. (Not everybody agreed: Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley vocally opposed the renaming effort, though he did eventually vote for the Pentagon funding bill that included the measure.)
Eight other Army bases have been renamed. So have two Navy ships, as well as hundreds of buildings and roads at U.S. bases.
We are especially pleased to see Eisenhower honored with the fort’s new name. Abilene, Kansas’ most famous resident served his country and the world with tremendous distinction in the fight against fascism and authoritarianism. And — unlike Gordon — he did so in winning fashion.
“We’re transitioning from arguably a failed leader (as a namesake) to the visionary world leader who resonated with all of the soldiers that he led on a world stage,” Stanton said Friday.
That’s a much better, more inspirational example for our troops to follow.
The renaming of a fort might not seem like much in the ongoing fight against racism in America. But it’s a start. Dwight Eisenhower has made us proud again.
