The sprawling Army base in North Carolina had long been named for Braxton Bragg, an incompetent Confederate general who owned enslaved people.
Then in 2020, Congress moved to strip the base of its name, mandating a new one. The base was renamed Fort Liberty as part of the U.S. military’s examination of its history with race. But Mr. Trump and other conservatives raged against the changes, arguing that “wokeness” was softening the military and wiping away important elements of American tradition and heritage.
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to restore the old name, and his pledge was brought to fruition on Friday, but with a twist that seemed both a rewriting of history and an internet troll: Fort Liberty again became Fort Bragg, not in honor of the Confederate general but in memory of Pvt. Roland L. Bragg, a previously obscure infantryman who had served at Fort Bragg and fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
The official ceremony at the military base on Friday cemented a political victory for Mr. Trump, who suffered a legislative defeat in 2020 when Congress pushed past his veto of a bill with a provision to rename nine Army bases that had honored treasonous Confederate generals who fought against the United States to preserve slavery and white supremacy.
Those bases were renamed for candidates that “embody the best of the United States Army,” according to the naming commission that recommended the initial changes. They included decorated officers, enlisted troops who survived harrowing trials in battle, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and one civilian: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War surgeon and the only woman ever awarded a Medal of Honor.
