The U.S. Navy has changed the name of a Naval Academy campus building that formerly held the name of a Confederate leader to honor former Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
The Naval Academy building initially honored Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanography trailblazer also known as “pathfinder of the seas” who “resigned his U.S. commission” to join Confederate Naval forces, Navy Times reported. Now, the building will bear the name “Carter Hall” after the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter.
Maury Hall has been renamed Carter Hall, according to a news release on Friday. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said this followed a vote by Congress to identify and remove names connected to the Confederacy from U.S. military facilities. https://t.co/PEc1sBHmEP
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution (@ajc) February 17, 2023
Today, we kicked off Presidents Day weekend by renaming the former Maury Hall after Jimmy Carter, @NavalAcademy c/o 1947 and our 39th President of the United States. The Midshipmen who will study in Carter Hall will be reminded of Carter’s example and legacy of lifelong service. pic.twitter.com/uo1E076xmr
— Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (@SECNAV) February 17, 2023
The building was named in 1915, along with two other fixtures, which were named for Franklin Buchanan, the academy’s first superintendent who later rose through through ranks of the Confederacy to become an admiral. (RELATED: Pentagon Begins Process Of Scrubbing Confederate Names, Symbols From Military Assets)
The freshly-dubbed Carter Hall is home to the academy’s “systems and weapons engineering department,” according to the outlet. (RELATED: ‘Everybody Can Be Racist’: DOD Chief Diversity Educator Defends Tweets Targeted Toward White Educators)
President Jimmy Carter graduated from the Naval Academy back in 1946 and spent 7 years as a Naval submarine officer.
The name change effort was provoked by Congress in 2020, which commissioned a name-change committee to re-examine Confederate nomenclature on federal buildings following the death of George Floyd.
Renaming the DOD academic building will reportedly cost the academy $12,000.
