New Delhi: A 250-foot triumphal arch planned by US President Donald Trump could cast a shadow over one of America’s most recognisable memorials—the eternal flame at John F Kennedy’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery. Nine members of the Kennedy family are now seeking to stop the project.
The relatives of the former US president have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the project, arguing that the arch would obscure historically significant views across the cemetery and cast shadows over memorials and the graves of hundreds of thousands of American service members.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, seeks to intervene in the ongoing legal battle against the project. It comes days after US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan temporarily halted construction until 20 November while the court considers legal challenges to the arch.
The Kennedy relatives—seven children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, former congressman Joe Kennedy and Edward Kennedy Jr—argue that the structure would “permanently cast shadows over and damage historically significant sightlines” to the family’s memorials at Arlington, as well as graves across the cemetery.
Their filing cites a Washington Post analysis which found that the arch would briefly obscure the view of Kennedy’s eternal flame on 18 days a year and shade the former president’s memorial on 50 days. Across a year, the analysis found, the arch’s shadow would touch burial sites at Arlington on 284 days.
The proposed arch is part of Trump’s effort to reshape Washington ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary. The White House has framed it as a tribute to the country’s war dead, but critics say its scale and proximity to Arlington would intrude on one of the nation’s most solemn memorial landscapes.
The Interior Department, which is managing the project, said last month that designers had run models showing that only a small section of the cemetery would be affected once the arch was completed, and for less than two weeks a year. It said the shadows would fall for less than an hour after sunrise, when they are “very lengthened and distorted” and mingle with the shadows cast by trees.
The department’s assessment has done little to reassure the Kennedy family or the project’s other opponents. Three Vietnam War veterans, a historic preservationist, the District of Columbia government and the Commonwealth of Virginia have already sued to stop construction, arguing that the project was improperly approved.
John F Kennedy’s grave, marked by its eternal flame, is among the most visited sites at Arlington. His relatives contend that a 250-foot arch nearby would fundamentally alter the memorial’s surroundings and undermine the quiet dignity of the cemetery.
(Edited By Raunaq Lekhi)