On the orders of Joe Biden’s ambassador to France, the U.S. embassy has replaced multiple portraits of historic American figures with pictures of more “diverse” people.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Ambassador Denise Bauer first announced on February 3rd that the portraits would be replaced. The images, which depicted many of her predecessors in the historic diplomatic position as well as one of the Founding Fathers, have since been swapped out for images of Hispanic-Americans, a “transgender” activist, and a labor leader who identified as a socialist.
Another example is John Armstrong Jr., who served as a major during the American Revolution before being elected as a United States Senator from New York. He served as the Minister to France in 1804, then went on to serve as Secretary of War. His likeness was replaced with an image of Dolores Huerta, one of the co-founders of the labor union United Farm Workers, who also served as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“Proud that the entrance to our embassy now better reflects the incredible diversity of my country,” said Bauer in her announcement. “A value that I carry wherever I go in France.”
One of the original portraits depicted Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a general in George Washington’s Continental Army, who later served as Minister to France in 1796. Pinckney was replaced with an image of Ray Rivera, a gay man who believed he was a woman and called himself Sylvia, and went on to serve a role in the violent uprising of far-left gay activists in 1969 that later came to be known as the Stonewall Riots.
The decision by Biden’s ambassador reflects the administration’s broader focus on erasing American history, erasing images of White men who played a crucial role in the county’s foundation and replacing them with minorities of little historical significance. On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he signed an executive order demanding that all federal agencies reassess their focus on “racial equity” and create “action plans” for how to hire more minorities, in order to “embed equity in the everyday business of government.”