(NEXSTAR) – The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden appears to be the latest victim of President Trump’s plans for a White House ballroom where the East Wing once was.
Satellite images published by Ars Technica (as well as aerial images from a commercial flight out of DC) appeared to show the Kennedy Garden completely torn up as of last week. In photos taken Sunday, construction equipment and debris were seen where the garden’s trees, bushes and I.M. Pei-designed pergola were once located.
A representative for the U.S. National Park Service was not immediately available to confirm whether any of the plants or the pergola were being relocated.
The garden, located just south of the East Terrace Colonnade, was dedicated in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy in 1965, to honor her efforts to revive the outdoor spaces of the White House while her husband was in office.
“This garden, every detail of it, reflects the unfailing taste of the gifted and gracious Jacqueline Kennedy,” then-first lady Lady Bird Johnson said upon its dedication.
Throughout the years, the White House’s Jacqueline Kennedy Garden had been used as an outdoor events space for awards ceremonies and receptions, including events hosted by first lady Melania Trump. Her predecessor, Jill Biden, had hosted an event honoring caregivers of wounded veterans at the space in 2023, as well as a reception area during the White House Easter Egg Roll, where she read to some of the children.
Hillary Clinton also once used the garden as a temporary sculpture area, honoring Native American artists while displaying their work.
Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy (later Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), was among the most vocal critics of Trump’s destruction of the gardens his grandmother re-established.
“My grandmother saw America in full color — Trump sees black and white,” Schlossberg wrote on Instagram. “Where she planted flowers, he poured concrete. She brought life to the White House, because our landmarks should inspire and grow with our country.
“Her Rose Garden is gone, but the spirit of the Kennedy White House lives on — in the young at heart, the strong in spirit, and in a new generation answering the call to service,” he said.
In his post, Schlossberg shared a photo of his uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., playing in the White House’s Rose Garden as a young boy. He juxtaposed the picture with an image of the same area under construction earlier this year, when President Trump had it replaced with a tiled patio area.
A recent YouGov poll appears to suggest the majority of Americans are not in favor of Trump’s ballroom plans either, with 53% against the idea and only 24% approving of the construction. (Trump had initially claimed that plans for the ballroom would not interfere with any existing White House structures, but later went back on that statement.)
Trump’s removal of the East Wing also raised questions on whether he’s exceeding his authority to remodel historic structures in Washington D.C. Speaking with The Hill, an administration official with the National Capital Planning Commission — an agency that approves plans for such renovations — said last week that they hadn’t yet received formal construction plans for the ballroom.
A spokesperson for the White House Historical Association — a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded with the help of Jacqueline Kennedy, was not available to discuss the removal of her namesake garden with Nexstar. But a representative pointed to a statement issued last week, which explained that archivists had rushed to document photos and obtain objects of historical value as soon as they learned of the demolition plans.
“Upon announcement of the Ballroom construction project by the White House, the White House Historical Association supported the preservation of East Wing history through a comprehensive digital scanning project and photography to create an historic record,” reads a portion of the statement.
“The East Wing and gardens have been captured in detail for the benefit of our nation and historic artifacts from the East Wing have been preserved and stored.”
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