Columbus Day in the United States highlights explorer’s legacy of faith, says Trump

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, renewed the focus of Columbus Day, which is celebrated in the country on the second Monday in October, vindicating the explorer’s “extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance and virtue,” according to the proclamation presidential.

Since 1971, the second Monday in October has been federally recognized as Columbus Day to commemorate Columbus’ discovery of America in 1492, celebrate Italian-American heritage, and recognize the lynchings of 11 Italian-Americans in 1891. In 2021, former President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day to be observed on the same day, after criticism of Columbus.

“The ‘current hostility’ toward him is misinformed,” Felipe Fernández-Armesto, a history professor at the University of Notre Dame and author of Columbus on Himself. “He understandably had mixed feelings about the people he met on this side of the ocean, but, by the standards of his contemporaries, his most characteristic judgments of them were highly positive.”

“Columbus Day is commendable—instituted in atonement for the worst lynching in American history…—Columbus fit into a project of national reconciliation because he was, for most of American history, a unifying figure.” Fernández-Armesto added: “It should continue to be that way today.”

“He was not guilty of most of the excesses of cruelty that self-serving enemies of the time and ignorant critics of today attribute to him. His career was singularly significant: he was genuinely the discoverer of viable round-trip routes across the Atlantic; reconnecting, for better and worse, previously separated cultures and enabling the transformative exchange of ideas and people, commerce and ways of life,” he said.

“It is difficult to think of someone whose impact on the hemisphere has been greater,” said Fernández-Armesto.

Presidential proclamation in the United States

In an Oct. 9 proclamation, Trump wrote that in previous years there has been a “campaign to erase our history…and attack our heritage.” To counter this, Trump formally declared that the day will be recognized as Columbus Day in honor of “the great Christopher Columbus and all who have helped build our nation.”

As a “titan of the Age of Exploration,” Columbus was “guided by a noble mission: to discover a new trade route to Asia, bring glory to Spain, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands,” the proclamation reads.

Upon Columbus’ arrival in America, he “planted a majestic cross in a powerful act of devotion, dedicating the land to God and launching the proud birthright of America’s faith.”

The US president noted that Columbus was guided by “constant prayer and unwavering strength and resolve” and that his voyage “carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason and culture across the Atlantic to the Americas.”

“As we celebrate his legacy, we also recognize the contributions of the countless Italian-Americans who, like him, have contributed endlessly to our culture and our way of life,” the presidential proclamation states. “To this day, the United States and Italy share a special bond rooted in the timeless values ​​of faith, family and freedom. My administration looks forward to strengthening our long and legendary friendship for years to come.”

Under the Trump administration, “our nation will now be governed by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his unwavering determination.”

The president called on the American people to observe the day “with appropriate ceremonies and activities” and ordered that American flags be displayed on all public buildings on the designated day.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.