Freedom Caucus chair probes military’s effort to ‘rewrite our nation’s history’ with Naming Commission

FIRST ON FOX: House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., is going after the group tasked with scrubbing references to the Confederacy from the U.S. military, accusing the Pentagon of trying to “rewrite” history.

In letters to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent on Wednesday, Good took issue with the recent removal of the Reconciliation Monument, a Confederate memorial, from Arlington National Cemetery.

“We write regarding the recent implementation of the Naming Commission’s recommendation to remove Arlington National Cemetery’s ‘Reconciliation Monument.’ We are concerned about this removal and the broader efforts by the commission to rewrite our nation’s history,” Good wrote.

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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, left, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. (Getty Images)

He said in the letter to Austin, “Efforts to remove statues and memorials like this encourage an endless cycle of renaming institutions, buildings, and cities across the country under the destructive ruse of political wokeness.”

“Historical sites are healthy environments to observe varied perspectives of historical events, engage diverse viewpoints, and inspire robust conversation as we remember our nation’s history,” Good added.

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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Good asked Comer’s Oversight Committee to hold a hearing on the Naming Commission and request that the panel hand over any relevant documents. 

In his letter to Austin, Good asked him to compile all relevant documents and correspondence with the Naming Commission, including memos to private entities and the White House.

The Reconciliation Monument was slated for removal by the Pentagon’s Naming Commission, a panel tasked with renaming and removing military installations named after the Confederacy in the wake of the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. 

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The Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery is photographed on Aug. 17, 2017. (Calla Kessler/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The memorial was unveiled in 1914 by then-President Wilson after being commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Congress had authorized the reinterment of Confederate remains to Arlington National Cemetery just 14 years prior.

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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin had asked for it to be moved to the Virginia Military Institute, according to reports from late last year.

Its removal was challenged in court, but a judge ultimately cleared the way for it to be taken down in late December.