Since its creation in 1910, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has advised Congress and the president on matters pertaining to monuments, memorials, and federal buildings.

However, President Donald Trump recently dropped the hammer on the commission by firing all of its members. 

America First members sought

According to NPR, the White House confirmed this week that Trump is "preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump's America First Policies."

The news outlet explained that the expelled commissioners are Bruce Redman Becker, Peter D. Cook, Lisa E. Delplace, William J. Lenihan, Justin Garrett Moore, and vice chair Hazel Ruth Edwards.

Also terminated was commissioner chairman Billie Tsien, an architect who helped to design the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

NPR noted how this is not the first time that a president has carried out a purge of commission members, as Trump's predecessor did so as well.

Turnabout is fair play

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden removed four individuals whom Trump had appointed during his first term in office, some of whom helped to draft an executive order regarding the construction of new federal buildings.

"President Biden is proud to nominate this extremely qualified and well-respected group of professionals to the Commission on Fine Arts," a White House statement read.

"They will bring to the commission a diversity of background and experience, as well as a range of aesthetic viewpoints," it added.

NPR reported at the time that Trump's executive order called for designers to adopt neo-classical, Georgian, Greek Revival, Gothic, and other traditional styles.

Classical approach preferred

The order recounted that "President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson consciously modeled the most important buildings in Washington, D.C., on the classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome."

"They sought to use classical architecture to visually connect our contemporary Republic with the antecedents of democracy in classical antiquity, reminding citizens not only of their rights but also their responsibilities in maintaining and perpetuating its institutions," it stressed.

The order was met with approval from Marion Smith, who formerly served as director and chairman of the National Civic Art Society.

"From where I'm standing, I see modernist structures, and the only hint of a classical building I can see is the top of the U.S. dome. That is not what our founders had in mind," he told NPR.