Dana Taylor

President Lyndon Johnson renamed the yet to be constructed National Cultural Center to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Why did it take a law to do that?

And is it clear how President Donald Trump was able to add his name without passing a new law?

The Kennedy Center has functioned as a living memorial.

What does that mean exactly?

And how did it help the country heal following the horror of the assassination of JFK?

Well, like most presidents, Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson were memorialized long after their deaths.

They have enormous physical monuments.

Do those towering structures help make the case that it's better to wait?

On the flip side, we have John Adams, who is inarguably eligible, but still lacks a major memorial.

Has that ship sailed or do you think that Adams will one day have a presidential memorial?

The Lincoln Memorial has been a backdrop for transformative moments like the 1963 March on Washington.

Could a case be made that it is indeed a living memorial?

We live in a time when memorials and monuments are being reevaluated based on more open conversations about when some of them were built and by whom.

How have you approached those conversations?

We're talking primarily about U.S.

monuments and memorials here, but more broadly, how have memorials helped societies move forward, whether that be following the loss of a beloved figure or grappling with wars and other atrocities?

For Americans, what would you say is the grand purpose?

Why should we care about these memorials?

And that Indigenous nations are brought into this important conversation.