Trump Adds Thomas Jefferson Bronze to White House Rose Garden

President Donald Trump has installed a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the White House Rose Garden, the fifth sculptural addition to the space. Created by Colorado-based artist George Lundeen, the statue depicts the third president seated on a bench with a quill and the Declaration of Independence. Lundeen completed the piece 25 years ago and told Hyperallergic that without Jefferson, the United States might not exist. The Jefferson statue joins existing sculptures of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and "Freedom's Charge," which features two Revolutionary War soldiers. Lundeen also previously sculpted a Trump statue depicting the president pumping his fist after the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania; that piece is displayed at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Jefferson installation is part of Trump's broader efforts to reshape the White House grounds and Washington, D.C., including the 2020 Rose Garden renovations that replaced the Kennedy-era lawn with a Mar-a-Lago-style patio and a "Presidential Walk of Fame" that omits Joe Biden, replacing him with an autopen. In June, six heritage preservation groups sued the Trump administration over plans for a "Garden of American Heroes" in West Potomac Park, which would feature 250 figures including Muhammad Ali, Frederick Douglass, and Christopher Columbus—the latter already installed at the White House compound in March.