The “American Heroes” – a sculpture garden project by Trump – is moving forward, thanks to diverted funds from the NEH.
On Friday last week, the New York Times reported that the project is moving ahead, thanks to funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The project – a giant garden of sculptures outside the White House – would feature various figures considered important to the American culture. The project is in line with Trump’s presidential campaign that promised to put a renewed focus on “patriotism”.
However, the news comes only a week after the NEH sent a Notice of Grant Termination. The mail was sent to various recipients of the grants from NEH, informing that their grants were being terminated effective immediately. The mail also mentioned that the funds would be utilized somewhere else. The notice came after days of speculation that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, was making major cuts and changes to the NEH.
The NEH, since its inception in 1965, has granted over $6.4 billion in funds to various entities – museums, schools, libraries, artists, writers, and so on. Some of the most iconic projects funded by the organization include American Prometheus – the Pulitzer-winning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the documentary The Civil War (1990), and the publication of the accounts of Lewis and Clark. The organization also grants funds to state museums that are struggling financially.
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The cancellation and the diversion of the NEH funds was met with outrage by the Democrats, particularly due to the legality of it. Chellie Pingree (Democratic representative from Maine) called it ‘nonsense’ and ‘ideological targeting’.
