How Donald Trump's Columbus Day proclamation compares to previous presidents
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Calls to dump Columbus Day are getting louder as cities across the country replace it with “Indigenous People’s Day.” Native Americans say it’s necessary to atone for Christopher Columbus’ legacy but some Italian Americans are outraged by it. (Oct. 9)
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President Trump, in his proclamation declaring Monday as Columbus Day, did not include any mention of Native Americans.Â
The federal holiday honoring the famous Italian explorer Christopher Columbus has become increasingly controversial. Native American groups view it as a celebration of the man responsible for the genocide of indigenous people. Some states are even abandoning Columbus Day and replacing it with Indigenous People Day, also known by some as Native Americans Day.
More: Columbus, your ship may have sailed: Indigenous Peoples Day picks up steam
More: As Confederate statues come down, what about Columbus?
Trump’s omission of Native Americans appears to track the way former Republican President George W. Bush wrote his proclamations. The two other former presidents in recent history, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, included details about the Native Americans’ history in their proclamations.
Bill ClintonÂ
Former President Clinton, a Democrat, noted Columbus’s journey is historically significant – but in more than one way.Â
“The encounters between Columbus and other European explorers and the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere also underscore what can happen when cultures clash and when we are unable to understand and respect people who are different from us,†he wrote in his last Proclamation for the controversial holiday, in the year 2000.Â
George W. BushÂ
For most of his time in office, Bush mainly addressed how Columbus’s journey sparked the “close ties†between the U.S. and Italy and how the countries continued to work together.
In 2001, in his first Columbus Day proclamation, the Republican president writes how the explorer’s historic journey connected the continents separated by geographic, religious and cultural barriers. He did not mention specifically the Native Americans who resided on the land.
Barack ObamaÂ
In his first year in office, 2009, then-president Barack Obama notes how Columbus’s journey revealed new land for European nations. Yet Obama, a Democrat, also noted how the European immigrants joined the “thriving indigenous communities who suffered great hardships as a result of the changes to the land they inhabited,†which was the first specific mention of the Native Americans in the proclamation in eight years.
In his 2016 proclamation, Obama got much more specific about the plight of Native Americans. Obama urged Americans to “acknowledge the pain and suffering reflected in the stories of Native Americans who had long resided†before Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean to search for a new life.
Donald TrumpÂ
Echoing former President George W. Bush’s Columbus Day proclamations, Trump did not mention Native Americans and instead focused on the U.S. relationship with Italy.
“There can be no doubt that American culture, business, and civic life would all be much less vibrant in the absence of the Italian American community,†Trump wrote.  “We also take this opportunity to reaffirm our close ties to Columbus’s country of birth, Italy.  Italy is a strong ally and a valued partner in promoting peace and promoting prosperity around the world.â€
Read Trump’s full proclamation:
“Five hundred and twenty-five years ago, Christopher Columbus completed an ambitious and daring voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.  The voyage was a remarkable and then-unparalleled feat that helped launch the age of exploration and discovery. The permanent arrival of Europeans to the Americas was a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation. Therefore, on Columbus Day, we honor the skilled navigator and man of faith, whose courageous feat brought together continents and has inspired countless others to pursue their dreams and convictions — even in the face of extreme doubt and tremendous adversity.
More than five centuries after his initial voyage, we remember the ‘Admiral of the Ocean Sea’ for building the critical first link in the strong and enduring bond between the United States and Europe. While Isabella I and Ferdinand II of Spain sponsored his historic voyage, Columbus was a native of the City of Genoa, in present day Italy, and represents the rich history of important Italian American contributions to our great Nation. There can be no doubt that American culture, business, and civic life would all be much less vibrant in the absence of the Italian American community. We also take this opportunity to reaffirm our close ties to Columbus’s country of birth, Italy. Italy is a strong ally and a valued partner in promoting peace and promoting prosperity around the world.Â
In commemoration of Christopher Columbus’s historic voyage, the Congress, by joint resolution of April 30, 1934, and modified in 1968 (36 U.S.C. 107), as amended, has requested the President proclaim the second Monday of October of each year as ‘Columbus Day.’
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2017, as Columbus Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and all who have contributed to shaping this Nation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.”Â
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