A proposed “National Garden” featuring statues of American Heroes has Walt Disney listed among those who will be honored when it is eventually built.
What’s Happening:
- An Executive Order signed by Donald Trump in July created the Interagency Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes, and has made progress leading toward the creation of the “National Garden of American Heroes” (or “National Garden”)
- According to the order, “In the peace and harmony of this vast outdoor park, visitors will come and learn the amazing stories of some of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. The National Garden will feature a roll call of heroes who deserve honor, recognition, and lasting tribute because of the battles they won, the ideas they championed, the diseases they cured, the lives they saved, the heights they achieved, and the hope they passed down to all of us — there is no challenge that cannot be overcome and no dream that is beyond our reach. In short, each individual has been chosen for embodying the American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love. Astounding the world by the sheer power of their example, each one of them has contributed indispensably to America’s noble history, the best chapters of which are still to come.”
- Among a vast list of instantly recognizable names that also include Steve Jobs, Alfred Hitchcock, Neil Armstrong, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr, Kobe Bryant and many others, Walt Disney is listed among the American Heroes to be featured in the National Garden.
- No specifications regarding the statues have been given, so we may see a simple bust (like the one pictured in the former Television Hall of Fame at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) or maybe even a full sized statue of Walt similar to the Partners statue at Disneyland Park and Magic Kingdom, less Mickey Mouse of course.
- Also according to the executive order, a specific site or opening date has not been named as of yet, but the task force is required “until such time as the National Garden is established and includes statues of all individuals set forth in section 3(c)(i) of Executive Order 13934, as amended by section 3(b) of this order, the Task Force shall publish an annual public report describing progress on establishing the National Garden and on building statues of American heroes. This report shall include, as applicable, the steps the Task Force agencies have taken in the preceding year to prepare the National Garden to be opened for public access and listing all statues either commissioned for or placed in the National Garden”