Melania channels 'inner Jackie Kennedy' to revamp White House rose garden as Trump campaign gathers steam
As President Donald Trump amps up his efforts for a reelection campaign, his wife is focusing her energies into renovating the White House Rose Garden, as an “act of expressing hope and optimism for the future."
According to the New York Times, Melania Trump will deliver a speech to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House later on Monday, July 27 to kickstart the project, which includes electrical upgrades for televised appearances and a new walkway and new flowers and shrubs. “Our country has seen difficult times before, but the White House and the Rose Garden have always stood as a symbol of our strength, resilience and continuity," part of her prepared remarks to be delivered reads.
The garden has not really been used by Trump in a traditional sense. He has rather used it to announce executive actions, boast about the economy, and to challenge Democratic leaders. White House aides told the outlet that the POTUS deliberately chooses to deliver lengthy speeches on the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on public health as well as the US economy in 90-degree heat because he thinks that natural light flatters his complexion. He has also pushed the usage of the area further than his predecessors by holding campaign-rally-like appearances.
“It’s just such a traditional venue when a president wants to get national attention for something he’s doing or something he’s saying,” Lori Cox Han, who teaches political science at Chapman University in California and has written about how presidents use the Rose Garden, said in an interview. “There’s not a lot that’s been traditional about this presidency or about how we view the president or the first lady, but for Melania, this is one of those opportunities to be seen as a traditional first lady.”
Not just that, experts also believe that the Rose Garden project, which began last year, and is supported by the National Park Service and funded by private donations, might be a way for Melania to protect her own legacy as she realizes that her time at the White House is running out. “One reading of this project is that maybe Melania Trump is sensing that she has a relatively brief time in the White House,” said Katherine Jellison, a professor at Ohio University who studies first ladies. “And if she’s going to make her mark in the way Jackie Kennedy did in her brief time, a project of this sort would be appropriate.”
In fact, it is a known fact that Melania has channeled Jackie Kennedy’s legacy as the first lady, even choosing to work with the White House Historical Association, an organization that was founded by Jackie Kennedy in 1961. Even Trump pointed out that comparison while talking to 'Fox & Friends' last year. “We have our own Jackie O,” the president said, alluding to Mrs Kennedy's famous nickname. “It’s called Melania, Melania T.”
As a result, the plans for the garden, drawn up by the present FLOTUS adhere closely to the design Jackie Kennedy approved when she lived in at the residence decades ago. Apart from an electrical infrastructure that will make it easier to televise the president, there are also plans to construct a limestone walkway to the inner perimeter of the garden, replace crab apple trees with white rose shrubs and revamp the drainage systems. According to the plans viewed by the NYT, white “J.F.K.” and pale pink “peace” roses will also be planted.