Once again, the Trump Administration makes it clear they are smug and petty.
Faced with a French Member of the European Parliament calling for the return of the Statue of Liberty, based on the United States escalating attack on the values their 139-year-old gift represents, the Trump Administration chose to insult an ally. The gift commemorates France's long-standing alliance with the United States; from our Revolution and through two world wars, the countries have fought alongside one another to pursue freedom and liberty. The Trump Administration isn't very interested.
On May 10, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed General John J. Pershing the Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. Pershing and the first 14,000 United States infantry troops landed at the port of Saint Nazaire in France on June 26, 1917. With the majority of these troops being untrained new recruits, they would not make a major battlefield contribution until 1918. Their presence, however, gave a significant psychological boost to the war-weary Allies on the battlefields of France.
On July 2, 1917, United States troops made a symbolic march through Paris ending at the grave of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had convinced the French to aid in the American Revolution. Standing in front of the tomb, Colonel Charles Stanton famously declared, "Lafayette, we are here!" This phrase was largely attributed to General Pershing, though he did not say it.
Lafayette, We Are Here! — Pritzker Museum
