President Donald Trump’s appetite to emblazon his name and image on everything from public buildings to passports is already voracious, gaudy and without precedent. But last month, his administration appears to have brought the same pompous zeal to the Navy’s aircraft carrier fleet.
Sources inside the administration told CNN they were considering stripping the name of Doris Miller, an African American and World War II hero, off the Navy’s newest flattop for Trump’s instead. Doing so wouldn’t just be another notch on the president’s cult-of-personality belt, however. It would cast aside a deeply meaningful and fitting gesture toward a sailor who displayed extraordinary bravery and died for his country.
As Japanese fighters rained fire upon Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Doris Miller, then an enlisted Navy cook aboard the USS West Virginia, ran toward the danger and took control of one of the battleship’s anti-aircraft guns. He’d had no training; African Americans were at the time prohibited from combat roles. But in that moment, he shot back, downing enemy planes on that infamous day.
His heroism helped lead to military integration, though to this day he has never received the Medal of Honor for his actions. And later in the war, Miller was killed, along with 644 shipmates, when a Japanese submarine torpedoed USS Liscome Bay, sinking it at the Battle of Makin on Nov. 24, 1943.
In an ironic wrinkle, it was Thomas Modly — Trump’s then-acting Navy Secretary — who announced in January 2020 the newest aircraft carrier would be named for Miller as a way to honor “the contributions of all our enlisted ranks, past and present, men and women, of every race, religion, and background.”
In late August, a bipartisan group of more than 70 members of Congress, including Washington Democratic U.S. Reps. Marilyn Strickland and Adam Smith, signed a letter to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to preserve Miller’s name. They recognized how swapping Miller’s name for Trump’s would “diminish the recognition of one of our country’s greatest military heroes,” they wrote.
Sadly, such a move has become par for the course for an administration that does not hide its disdain for what it considers “woke” ideology, both in history and in the present day. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in testimony that 60% of the military leaders Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed have been Black or female. Trump also previously fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to chair the Joint Chiefs, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy.
Separately, Trump’s executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history,” has removed painful yet courageous stories and memorials of Black Americans and other minorities, including from the Smithsonian Institution.
Black Americans make up about 20% of the enlisted Navy, though that number in the officer corps is only about 8%-9%, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. And the Navy’s carrier fleet still includes the USS John C. Stennis and USS Carl Vinson — both senators who were ardent supporters of segregation.
A USS Doris Miller would be a legacy that inspires all Americans — rather than a president who seems all too eager to stamp his name on anything he can. Congress is right to push back against what would be an arrogant and disgraceful move. The Navy should maintain its original plan to honor a true American hero.
