{"id":359661,"date":"2025-12-20T08:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/359661\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T08:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:56:13","slug":"photos-kennedy-center-adds-trumps-name-to-memorial-congress-created-for-jfk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/359661\/","title":{"rendered":"PHOTOS: Kennedy Center adds Trump\u2019s name to memorial Congress created for JFK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Kennedy Center on Friday quickly\u00a0added Donald Trump\u2019s name\u00a0to the performing arts center Congress designated as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, a day after the center\u2019s board of trustees voted to make the change.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/trumps-handpicked-board-votes-to-rename-performing-arts-center-the-trump-kennedy-center\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Trump\u2019s handpicked board votes to rename performing arts center the \u2018Trump Kennedy Center\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blue tarps were hung in front of the building to obscure workers on scaffolding as they executed the transformation. Hours later it had a new name: The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542382\" class=\"size-large wp-image-542382\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-19T164051Z_1587383857_RC2SJIAOW18I_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-KENNEDY-CENTER-1024x688.jpg\" alt=\"Renaming of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington\" width=\"1024\" height=\"688\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-542382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue tarps hang from columns covering part of the facade at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. Photo by Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p>The board\u00a0of trustees, handpicked by Trump, voted unanimously Thursday to\u00a0add his name\u00a0to what was enshrined as a living memorial to the Democratic president. Trump, a Republican, also is the board\u2019s chairman.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of the vote, including Democratic members of Congress who are ex-officio board members, as well as some historians, insist that only Congress can change the name.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542383\" class=\"size-large wp-image-542383\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-19T164525Z_82652306_RC2SJIA4L7SI_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-KENNEDY-CENTER-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Renaming of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-542383\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers install lettering reading \u201cDonald\u201d on the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. Photo by Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Kennedy Center was named by law. To change the name would require a revision of that 1964 law,\u201d Ray Smock, a former House historian, said in an email. \u201cThe Kennedy Center board is not a lawmaking entity. Congress makes laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542384\" class=\"size-large wp-image-542384\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-19T173016Z_1702310380_RC2TJIA2PTFH_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-KENNEDY-CENTER-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Renaming of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-542384\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A man holds a sign as President Donald Trump\u2019s name is added at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. Photo by Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p>Congress named the performing arts center as a living memorial to Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/20\/76j\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The law explicitly prohibits<\/a>\u00a0the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person\u2019s name on the building\u2019s exterior.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542385\" class=\"size-large wp-image-542385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-19T183204Z_1332482564_RC2UJIA5KRH0_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-KENNEDY-CENTER-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Renaming of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-542385\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker stands on a lift, under President Donald Trump\u2019s name after it was added to the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. Photo by Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p>Some Kennedy family members oppose the renaming.<\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy Center is the latest building in Washington to have Trump\u2019s name added to it. The\u00a0U.S. Institute of Peace\u00a0was recently renamed after him.<\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy Center did not respond to an emailed request for comment Friday.<\/p>\n<p>AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p>\n                    A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"invite_body\">\n                    Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/give.newshour.org\/page\/88646\/donate\/1?ea.tracking.id=pbs_news_sept_2025_article&amp;supporter.appealCode=N2509AW1000100\" class=\"donation-link ga-click-funding ga-click-ender-funding\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    Donate now<\/p>\n<p>                <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Kennedy Center on Friday quickly\u00a0added Donald Trump\u2019s name\u00a0to the performing arts center Congress designated&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-359661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}