At the beginning of July 1963, Roger Stevens, the chairman of the National Cultural Center in Washington, which was being planned, wrote a letter of thanks to the Italian ambassador. Italy had announced that it would donate the marble for the building, around 3,700 tons, to the United States. Stevens wrote that Italy helped shape American culture for centuries. The marble will now be part of the new center for culture “for all time”.
Six decades later, federal judge Christopher Cooper quoted from Stevens' letter when ruling on a lawsuit filed by preservation groups against the Kennedy Center's renovation. Cooper contrasted Stevens’ “for all time to come” with several statements by Donald Trump. Trump said at the beginning of the year that they would keep “some of the marble”; other parts would be removed during the conversion. “A lot” of new marble has already been purchased.
The Italian marble is not only important for the conservation process. He also talks about the cultural symbolism of the Kennedy Center. The gift was part of a series of international gifts at the time: Austria sent chandeliers, Belgium sent mirrors, and Japan sent a silk opera curtain. The Federal Republic of Germany handed over Jürgen Weber's monumental bronze reliefs “America” and “War and Peace”. More than twenty states made similar gifts to the Kennedy Center.
This internationality expressed ideas about the nation during the Cold War, which Kennedy also formulated. At a fundraising gala for the new cultural center in 1962, he said that the mere accumulation of wealth and power was just as open to dictatorships as it was to democracies. On the other hand, if the United States could become one of the “great schools of civilization,” that would be its lasting contribution to humanity. Art knows no national borders, and a free society is committed to promoting it.
After Kennedy's assassination, Congress made the center a "living memorial" for him; the institution's mission was explicitly related to the performing arts of the United States and other countries. The flags of the American states hang in the Hall of States, and those of the states recognized by the United States hang in the Hall of Nations. America should be at the center and lead, and this self-image also included the idea of being the leader of a free, international, “Western” culture. Power should be seen as an attraction; the Western world should come to Washington to help shape the new cultural center.
Today Trump is also attacking this historical legacy. The new board of trustees, dominated by his loyalists, not only tried to immortalize his name on the facade, but failed several times in court. Trump also wants to dictate the renovation and is threatening to sabotage it if he is denied a name. It makes sense to understand the events of the last few weeks primarily as the result of Trump's vanity, vindictiveness and pettiness. But the Kennedy Center also reveals an idea of institutions that shapes government action.
In right-wing nationalist circles and in the MAGA movement, the view has long been held that institutions, cultural institutions and authorities cannot be easily reformed because they are still in the hands of political opponents. The right-wing consultant Michael Anton chose one of the most influential images for this in 2016. In “The Flight 93 Election,” Anton compared the presidential election to the plane hijacked on September 11, 2001 and the American right to the heroes who stormed the cockpit: “Charge the cockpit or you die,” Anton made of it.
Old conservatives still assumed regular changes of power through elections, which is why they fundamentally protected the institutions; Pioneers of the new right like Anton declared this to be inadequate. Restoration often means destruction in the sense that the enemy supposedly has a firm grip on the institutions. Such ideas were particularly pronounced in Elon Musk's DOGE project. However, restructuring authorities and destroying an entire apparatus from the inside is much more time-consuming and involves greater resistance than taking over and “restoring” a cultural prestige object.
Trump himself speaks about the Kennedy Center in similar terms, for example announcing the restoration of the house to its true grandeur. His government had begun to restore “the true meaning and prestige” of the institution, he said in March. It's not just the building that he sees as damaged, but also its purpose - among other things, due to a program that has been described as "woke". Research by the New York Times also shows how concrete the efforts towards an ideological realignment have already become. Under the acting administrative director appointed by Trump, Richard Grenell, a plan was developed to return works of art to the donating states. “Outdated or inappropriate art” should be replaced with works that express “American values,” it said.
The plans are reminiscent of what Trump and his colleagues are trying to do with the Smithsonian Institution museums and national parks. The country's history and self-image should be told in a new way: more nationalistic, whiter, more male and less oriented towards international alliances.
In the 1960s and 1970s, other nations were invited to participate in the design of an American national monument. Now Grenell, who has since left the Kennedy Center, wanted to clear out exactly these contributions. What's left of the plan is unclear, but the Kennedy Center assured the Times that it would protect the collection. Nevertheless, it is worth reading Grenell's removal list, which, according to the newspaper, also included the works of Jürgen Weber, the West German gift. The meaning only becomes clear when you look at Weber's monumental bronze reliefs, “America” and “War and Peace”.
They show American achievements, such as US foreign aid, free speech and technology, and the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the innovative immigration society. But images of advertising and consumption, smoke, cannons and a rocket taking off can be understood critically. The work is not a clear paean to America, but rather a work full of dynamics and contradictions. The Federal Republic had not simply given the United States German art, but also a critical eye that was allowed to become part of an American national monument - until now.
The African Lounge also talks about the relationship between the USA and the rest of the world. Around thirty African states contributed to this space, which was opened in 1977. There were textiles, artwork and a carved sculpture from Ghana meant to represent the grief over Kennedy's assassination. According to the Times, the lounge has already been closed since Trump took over; Fifteen works were removed from the exhibition. The center claims they are just in storage. Joel Shapiro’s abstract outdoor sculpture “Blue” was also on the scratch list. It was dismantled at the beginning of September. At the same time, gold-colored reliefs depicting Trump after the 2024 assassination attempt, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in the “Reach,” the newer addition.
In order to justify the interventions and the planned renovation, the President and the Board of Trustees describe the Kennedy Center as a completely run-down building with major financial problems. They not only objectively describe existing problems, but dramatize them: Without rescue through donations raised by Trump, the house is facing certain ruin, the management said, according to the Washington Post. Critics argue that Trump's takeover itself exacerbated the crisis: artists canceled performances, and audiences and donors partially withdrew.
The Kennedy Center's most recent tax return, analyzed by The Atlantic magazine, presents a mixed picture. In the last year before Trump took over, the center took in about $40 million more than it spent. Recently, income including ticket sales and donations fell significantly. This development can serve as evidence to Trump's supporters that the house is already dominated by the wrong groups.
Last week, the conflict again linked itself to Trump's name. After Judge Cooper again ruled that the board could not change the name of the Kennedy Center on its own, Trump declared that the closure would take place immediately, but that the actual "renovation and reconstruction" would not begin until the appeals court had ruled on the name or a plaque commemorating it. Shortly thereafter, the president was photographed on Air Force One with a printout that showed the Kennedy Center and the words "Kennedy Center DEMOLIS..." partially visible. Cooper then ordered that major structural changes must be announced at least thirty days in advance.
Concrete demolition plans have not yet been documented. Protesters formed a human chain around the building late last week. Members of the Kennedy family also protested. Kerry Kennedy spoke of a “hostage situation”. Kennedy Center Prize winner Barbra Streisand called the dispute over Trump's name an expression of his "unchecked ego." But Trump's narcissism isn't the only thing on display at the Kennedy Center. This, too, is about the American right's project to take over the institutions and tell a different story about America's past and present: more nationalistic, uplifting or darker, depending on your point of view, and less international.
