President Donald J. Trump issued two presidential proclamations Thursday morning, reaffirming Columbus Day as a celebration of faith and discovery while also honoring Leif Erikson, the Viking explorer credited with reaching North America more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus. The dual proclamations marked a sweeping tribute to the spirit of exploration and Western civilization, as well as a rebuke of efforts to erase or defame historical figures whose legacies shaped the modern world.
In his Columbus Day proclamation, Trump declared October 13, 2025, as a day to “reclaim” Columbus’s legacy from what he described as “left-wing arsonists” who have “sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory.” He praised the Italian navigator as “the original American hero” and “one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth,” detailing his 1492 transatlantic voyage as a triumph of faith and courage that “carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas.”
“Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage,” Trump said. “Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces.
He added, “Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero.”
The proclamation comes five years after a wave of statue removals and vandalism swept through major American cities in 2020, when demonstrators targeted Columbus monuments amid broader protests over what organizers perceived as historical injustice. In Baltimore, protesters pulled down a Columbus statue on Independence Day and dumped it into the Inner Harbor. In Denver, activists toppled a monument in front of the state capitol, and in Columbia, South Carolina, city officials ordered their statue removed after repeated vandalism. In San Francisco, the statue near Coit Tower was taken down by city crews and remains in storage to this day.
In January 2019, The Tennessee Star reported that the University of Notre Dame moved to cover a series of historical Columbus murals – originally painted in the 1880s to celebrate immigrant Catholics – after critics argued the works failed to reckon with the consequences of Columbus’s arrival for Indigenous peoples. In June 2020, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ordered the city’s Columbus bust to be removed and placed into storage after it was defaced with protest signage. Two years later, a Philadelphia court’s ruling forced city officials to uncover a Columbus statue they had boxed off during the unrest, saying the city’s concealment unlawful and politically motivated.
Protesters’ targets during that period extended well beyond Columbus, encompassing statues of Founding Fathers, Confederate figures, and other historic leaders.
Trump’s Columbus Day proclamation also honored the contributions of Italian Americans and reaffirmed U.S. ties with Italy. “To this day, the United States and Italy share a special bond rooted in the timeless values of faith, family, and freedom,” he said. “My Administration looks forward to strengthening our long and storied friendship in the years to come.” The proclamation concludes by directing that American flags be flown on all public buildings on Columbus Day to honor “the great Christopher Columbus and all who have contributed to building our Nation.”
Columbus Day, first established as a federal observance in 1934 and officially fixed to the second Monday in October by Congress in 1968, has in recent years faced competition from local efforts to rename it “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
Later Thursday morning, Trump issued a separate proclamation recognizing Leif Erikson Day, honoring the Norse Viking explorer widely believed to have been the first European to set foot in the New World around the year 1000. The president described Erikson as a man of “deep Christian faith” whose daring expedition “forever changed the course of history.”
“More than a millennium ago, legendary Norse Viking Leif Erikson forever changed the course of history when he fearlessly embarked on a daring expedition into the unknown, becoming the first European to ever set foot in the New World,” Trump said in the proclamation. “This Leif Erikson Day, we summon his courage, we honor his enduring legacy of adventure and exploration, and we renew our resolve to advance the limits of human achievement.”
According to tradition, Erikson sailed roughly 1,800 miles from Greenland to Newfoundland, naming the new land “Vinland.” His discovery, Trump said, “paved the way for the first American settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, more than 600 years later,” and his spirit of exploration “continued to define the American story — from the pioneers who tamed the Western frontier to the Apollo 11 astronauts who proudly planted the Stars and Stripes on the Moon.”
The Leif Erikson proclamation also praised the contributions of Nordic Americans and highlighted the administration’s ongoing cooperation with allied nations such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. “Together, with our allies in the Nordic nations, we are advancing fair trade and promoting peace through strength — ensuring a safer and more prosperous future for America and the North Atlantic,” Trump said.
While both proclamations paid tribute to explorers separated by centuries, they shared a common theme to celebrate and defend Western civilization’s legacy of discovery, faith, and cultural endurance.
“This Columbus Day, more than 500 years since Columbus arrived in the New World, we follow his example, we echo his resolve, and we offer our gratitude for his life of valor and grit,” Trump said.
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Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on X at @christinakb.
Photo “Leif Erikson” by Paul R. Burley CC4.0 and “Christopher Columbus” is by Kenneth C. Zirkel CC4.0.
