Trump says UFC fight coming to White House for America’s 250th birthday
President Donald Trump says part of the celebration for America’s 250th birthday will include an UFC fight at the White House in 2026.
President Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes” project has been alotted $40 million in funding.The garden, previously revoked by President Biden, aims to feature statues of up to 250 prominent American figures.The final list of figures and the garden’s location are yet to be determined.
President Donald Trump’s project to build the “National Garden of American Heroes” has been awarded $40 million, thanks to the megabill dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
In February, Trump announced he had ordered the creation of a new national park to display statues of “the greatest Americans who ever lived.” Trump signed a similar executive order in 2020, which former President Joe Biden revoked the following year.
The order reviving the project was part of a larger initiative preparing for the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, and the Trump administration appears to want the garden completed by July 2026. The National Endowment for the Humanities put out a call for people to apply for grants to create the statues to be completed between October and July. They would be assigned historic figures to depict in their statues by the NEH.
So who might be memorialized in these statues? Here is what we know:
Who will be in the ‘National Garden of American Heroes?’
The original order suggested the statues should depict “historically significant Americans” such as scientists, civil rights leaders, police officers, labor leaders, judges, authors and teachers, to name a few.
“None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying,” the order from 2020 states.
In 2021, days before leaving office, Trump signed an order expanding the list of people to nearly 200. Those include:
John AdamsSusan B. AnthonyClara BartonDaniel BooneJoshua ChamberlainHenry ClayDavy CrockettFrederick DouglassAmelia EarhartBenjamin FranklinBilly GrahamAlexander HamiltonThomas JeffersonMartin Luther King Jr.Abraham LincolnDouglas MacArthurDolley MadisonJames MadisonChrista McAuliffeAudie MurphyGeorge S. Patton Jr.Ronald ReaganJackie RobinsonBetsy RossAntonin ScaliaHarriet Beecher StoweHarriet TubmanBooker T. WashingtonGeorge Washington Orville and Wilbur WrightElvis PresleyWhitney HoustonHelen Keller
Trump’s reinstated order calls on the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to recommend other potential figures to include in the garden and bring the total number of people honored to 250.
The White House did not provide an update on the final list of people who would be included.
According to the NEH call for applications, the statues must be life-sized and made of marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass.
Where will the hero garden be located?
The location still has yet to be determined.
The 2020 order specified that the park will be “on a site of natural beauty,” near at least one population hub and avoid disrupting the local community.
Trump first announced the plans in front of Mount Rushmore, and some people in South Dakota seem eager to bring the statue garden to the state as well. A mining company that owns land near Mount Rushmore offered some of that land for Trump’s garden.
“I would like to offer those same Black Hills as the perfect location for this garden,” South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden said in a March 18 letter to Trump. “In fact, we have plot of land available in sight of Mount Rushmore that would be ideal for this fantastic effort.”
Contributing: Jason Lalljee, Maureen Groppe, Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.