In expressing their opposition, Trump and his team made well-worn appeals with records of success: that such a Commission would “erase history,” and that the Confederate namesakes for these assets mattered less than their present priorities. This time, however, Congress dramatically disagreed. Through their override, bipartisan legislative supermajorities made it clear that the military must stop honoring an insurrection that killed 400,000 United States soldiers and sailors. Whether commemorated by a small bust at West Point, a street name in Kansas or an iconic installation name like Fort Bragg or Fort Benning, treason must be made odious once more.

Thus began the Naming Commission—a bipartisan panel drawn from across the nation charged with identifying all such assets and creating a plan for their removal or modification. Over eighteen months, the Commissioners and their staff toured installations, met with thousands of Americans, and collaborated deeply with the Department of Defense as they confronted Confederate commemoration throughout its history and present. Their report to Congress was published by October 2022. The Secretary of Defense will implement it throughout 2023.

This work was historic precisely because it was historical. The Naming Commission grounded its purpose as a real-time response to the past actions by men and a movement that committed treason for slavery. Commissioners sought to slough off a hundred years of Lost Cause sentimentality for a clear-eyed view of the past. And the United States military supported them, courageously accepting that its actions in our present can help atone for wide-ranging racism in its past.

Intended for students of Public History, Military Studies, Policy Studies, and Civil War Memory alike, this roundtable features reflections and lessons from three historians who played individual and interconnected roles in the Naming Commission’s work. Together and apart, Naming Commission Vice Chair Ty Seidule, Center For Military History Executive Director Charles Bowery, and Lead Historian Connor Williams featured in virtually every facet of these public conversations, historical meditations, and institutional changes. They witnessed how memory, history, bureaucracy, politics, publicity and policy all interplayed to guide the military away from historical treason and racism and towards a future representative of the ideals for which they fight.

As citizens, they were proud to serve the nation in this work. As historians, they are honored to offer their experience, findings, and reflections.

Moderated by Dr. Jacqueline Whitt, Professor of History and Strategy at the Army War College.