Trump administration mulls renaming USS Doris Miller

0:00In his first term, President Trump praised the idea of naming an aircraft carrier after African-American war hero Doris Miller. Now, the Trump administration is considering stripping Miller's name from the ship. Steve Walsh with WHO in Norfolk, Virginia reports that reaction has been swift and harsh. Doris Miller was the first African-American to earn the Navy Cross after the battle at Pearl Harbor in 1941. In 2020, Trump's acting Navy secretary Thomas Moodley decided to name an aircraft carrier after the World War II hero, says Moodley's former deputy, Steve Deal. At the Pearl Harbor attack, Miller moved the wounded captain of USS West Virginia to safety. Miller was a mess man. At the time, that was one of only a few jobs opened to African-Americans in the Navy.

1:00Though he was untrained, he manned a gun and returned fire until he was ordered to leave. Miller was killed two years later during an attack on his new Navy ship. Deal says no one from the White House questioned the pick. President Trump promoted the decision during a Martin Luther King Junior Day event at the White House when he was president in 2020. Last month, the Navy announced that the next American aircraft carrier will bear the proud name of USS Doris Miller. That's pretty good. They won't give me that honor. That's a big boat. That's a big ship. All right, one day maybe. That one day seems to have arrived. NPR has confirmed that the Trump administration is considering stripping Miller's name from the future Ford Class aircraft carrier, now under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. One likely replacement, Donald Trump. Eight of the 11 current aircraft carriers are named after presidents, but it's inconsistent. Two are named after congressional leaders, including former Mississippi Senator John Stennis, says Ty Sejuli, a retired Brigadier general and former professor at West Point.

2:10I just think it's really ironic that they want to take the name off the Doris Miller, who was a sailor who died in combat, who saved his fellow sailors, and keep the name the John Stennis, who was a segregationist who fought against the values that we cherish as Americans. So, Ty Sejuli was vice-tear of a Congressional mandated committee which recommended stripping the Confederate legacy from US bases and ships in 2023. In 2025, the second Trump administration sidestepped the mandate. They put the old names back by renaming the bases for troops that share the names of the Confederates. NPR has confirmed the administration is also contemplating upgrading Doris Miller's silver star to the Medal of Honor. Sejuli says it's ironic that Trump is considering the upgrade as the administration considers removing Miller's name from the carrier. I see a pattern in the Trump administration. So, I certainly think that Secretary Hanksett has ensured that we only name things after certain people and not everyone who makes up this great country.

3:14The Secretary of Defense in the White House did not respond to a request for comment. Modelise D.L. was at the ceremony at Pearl Harbor in 2020 when the name was announced along with Doris Miller's family. The reaction of the enlisted on that ship there in that area was also ecstatic. From every background, race, creed, color, they felt, wow, this is going to be our ship. Currently, the carrier is scheduled to be ready by 2034. FriendsyRNews, I'm Steve Walsh.