WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama avoided a racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to separate memorials for Confederate soldiers and for blacks who fought against them during the Civil War.
Last week, a group of about 60 professors petitioned the White House, asking the first black U.S. president to break tradition and not memorialize military members from the Confederacy, the group of Southern states that supported slavery.
The White House ignored the request.
Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, a customary presidential undertaking on Memorial Day. He also had one sent to the Confederate Memorial there. Obama also took the unprecedented step of sending a wreath to the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington.
Wreaths also were left Monday at memorials to the USS Maine and the Spanish American War.
In brief but solemn remarks after he laid the wreath and observed a moment of silence, Obama saluted the men and women of America’s fighting forces, both living and dead, as "the best of America.”
The president, who did not serve in the military, noted his grandfather’s Army service during World War II. Unlike many of those in the audience, Obama said he can’t know what it’s like to walk into battle or lose a child.
by the associated press
Last week, a group of about 60 professors petitioned the White House, asking the first black U.S. president to break tradition and not memorialize military members from the Confederacy, the group of Southern states that supported slavery.
The White House ignored the request.
Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, a customary presidential undertaking on Memorial Day. He also had one sent to the Confederate Memorial there. Obama also took the unprecedented step of sending a wreath to the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington.
Wreaths also were left Monday at memorials to the USS Maine and the Spanish American War.
In brief but solemn remarks after he laid the wreath and observed a moment of silence, Obama saluted the men and women of America’s fighting forces, both living and dead, as "the best of America.”
The president, who did not serve in the military, noted his grandfather’s Army service during World War II. Unlike many of those in the audience, Obama said he can’t know what it’s like to walk into battle or lose a child.
by the associated press
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