Donald Trump White House statues now include a bronze Thomas Jefferson in the Rose Garden, where a white stone patio has replaced the lawn. The sculpture joins other founders already displayed in the space, turning the garden into a more permanent display area.
George Lundeen and Thomas Jefferson
George Lundeen, a sculptor from Loveland, Colorado, gave the Thomas Jefferson statue as a gift. Lundeen said, “I thought it would just be a real nice thing on the 250th for people to look at Thomas Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence.”
Lundeen said he made the sculpture decades ago and kept it at his ranch until he decided to send it to Trump for display at the White House. He said he wanted people to look at Jefferson at the moment he was writing the Declaration of Independence, not as a distant figure.
The Rose Garden patio
The Jefferson sculpture joins statues of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin already displayed in the Rose Garden, along with a fifth sculpture named “Freedom’s Charge.” The Washington statue was lent by Harlan Crow, and the other statues on the patio were on loan from people who wish to remain anonymous.
“Freedom’s Charge” is a 14-foot-tall bronze sculpture of two Revolutionary War soldiers separated by a flag. It was relocated from Dallas. The patio itself changed the historic outdoor space into a look-alike of the one at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
July Fourth celebrations
The Jefferson statue did not get to the White House in time for July Fourth celebrations of America’s 250th birthday. Steven Barber said it was stuck on a truck partly because of heavy security around the celebratory events, and he had been calling the White House for months about the statue.
After the holiday, Trump left Barber a voicemail and thanked Lundeen. Trump also said he had been shown photos of the sculpture and decided to put it in the Rose Garden. The voicemail said, “Hi, George. It’s your favorite president, Donald Trump, and I just wanted to thank you,” and, “The sculpture, it looks really beautiful … just by the picture I can see it’s really incredible, and we have a wonderful place right in the Rose Garden, and I appreciate it.”
The statue now sits inside a broader set of White House renovations that also includes a ballroom and a helipad on the south grounds. Trump’s separate plan includes a statue garden on federal land near the National Mall. How many statues are now on the Rose Garden patio in total is still not stated.
