The White House has placed a replica statue of Christopher Columbus on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to celebrate the explorer.
The figure is a copy of the Columbus monument that was pulled from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor during the 2020 protests that followed George Floyd’s killing and a broader national reckoning over racism. The replica now stands on White House grounds where officials say it will be displayed and protected.
In a letter made public to the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, Trump described Columbus as “the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth,” and thanked the group for the gift. John Pica, president of the umbrella group, said, “We are delighted the statue has found a place where it can peacefully shine and be protected.” The White House also posted on X: “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President Trump will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come.”
Columbus is a controversial historical figure because his Spanish-funded voyages in the 1490s helped open the Americas to European conquest and colonization. The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 renewed scrutiny of monuments tied to colonialism, slavery and violence; protesters in several cities targeted Columbus statues, citing his and his crews’ role in the exploitation and mass deaths of the Taíno people in the Caribbean and the broader harms that followed for Indigenous communities across the hemispheres.
Many U.S. institutions and communities have moved away from celebrating Columbus Day toward observing Indigenous Peoples Day; President Joe Biden issued a proclamation recognizing that shift in 2021. Trump has criticized the change as “anti-American,” and in April 2025 said, “I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes,” accusing Democrats of trying to erase Columbus’s reputation and Italian-American pride.
The Columbus installation is one of several recent restorations of contested monuments. Officials said a statue of Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was also an enslaver and whose statue was removed during the 2020 protests in Delaware, will be displayed in Washington. A statue of Confederate General Albert Pike, toppled in 2020, was reinstalled in Washington last year.