Presidential Walk of Fame plaques. Full text
Executive summary
The White House "Presidential Walk of Fame" is a newly refashioned colonnade exhibit where President Donald Trump installed bronze plaques beneath portraits of every U.S. president; many of those plaques carry pointed, partisan descriptions written or dictated by Trump and were publicly noted in December 2025 [1] [2]. Reporting reproduces portions of several plaques — including highly critical language about Joe Biden and Barack Obama and laudatory language about Reagan and Trump himself — and multiple outlets have documented factual errors or misleading claims on some plaques [3] [4] [5].
1. What the Presidential Walk of Fame is and how the plaques arrived
The exhibit, unveiled earlier in the administration and lining the West Wing colonnade, features gilded portraits of U.S. presidents and, in December 2025, the White House added permanent bronze plaques beneath each portrait that the administration says were “conceived, built, and dedicated” by President Trump [6] [1]. The White House framed the installation as a tribute to “past Presidents, good, bad, and somewhere in the middle,” signaling an intention to make the display a lasting part of the grounds [2] [6].
2. Representative plaque language reported publicly
Multiple outlets quote or summarize plaque wording: Joe Biden’s plaque reportedly calls him “Sleepy Joe Biden,” declares him “the worst President in American History,” and repeats the claim that he took office “as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States” [3] [7]. Barack Obama’s plaque is reported to call him “one of the most divisive political figures in American History,” labels him “the first Black President, a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois,” and accuses him of signing “the one-sided Paris Climate Accords” and passing the “Unaffordable Care Act” [4] [5]. Trump’s own plaque, as reported, brags of ending “eight wars in his first eight months,” claims he “defeated inflation,” touts deportations and tariffs, and promises “THE BEST IS YET TO COME,” while an introductory plaque predicts the Walk “will long live as a testament and tribute to the Greatness of America” [4] [6] [3].
3. Where reporting finds factual problems or disputed claims
News organizations and fact-checkers have flagged specific plaque assertions as misleading or false: for example, Obama’s plaque accusing his administration of “spying on the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Donald J. Trump” runs counter to multiple independent investigations and bipartisan Senate reports that found no political influence over the FBI’s probe of Russian interference [5]. Similarly, Biden’s plaque repeating election-corruption claims overlooks the dozens of lawsuits contesting the 2020 result that were largely rejected in court, a key context cited by fact-checkers [5] [7]. Independent outlets have cataloged other hyperbolic or unverified boasts on Trump’s own plaque, such as the “eight wars” claim, which reporting shows is presented without supporting evidence [8] [4].
4. Tone, intent and institutional norms
Observers note the plaques depart from conventional, neutral White House historical summaries and instead read like political messaging or social-media posts, with warm superlatives reserved for presidents Trump admires (Reagan receives effusive praise) and barbs aimed at recent Democratic predecessors [4] [9]. The rollout dovetails with broader administration actions to reshape the White House’s aesthetics and influence federal historical narratives, including scrutiny of Smithsonian exhibits and federal bicentennial planning, suggesting an explicit agenda to reframe presidential legacies [6].
5. Reactions, disputes, and the limits of available text
Coverage ranges from amusement to alarm: conservative outlets and White House spokespeople defend the plaques as “eloquently written descriptions” and a testament to American greatness, while outlets across the political spectrum document and fact-check outright falsehoods and partisan distortions [1] [5]. Reporting reproduces many representative lines, but none of the sources provide a complete, authoritative transcription of every plaque’s verbatim text; therefore, a comprehensive, end-to-end "full text" compilation of all plaques is not available within the cited reporting and would require direct access to the installed plaques or an official White House release [2] [6].