Trump brings back Columbus Day celebration with signed proclamation

President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and others at the White House applauded Thursday afternoon when Trump signed a proclamation honoring Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

“Today we have your Columbus Day proclamation for Monday, which we are signing a little early,” White House Chief Secretary Will Scharf told Trump on Thursday before the monthly Cabinet meeting.

“Columbus, of course, discovered the new world in 1492. He was a great Italian explorer. He sailed his three ships, the Nina, the Pinto and the Santa Maria, across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in what is now the Caribbean. And it’s a particularly important holiday for Italian-Americans who celebrate the legacy of Christopher Columbus, as well as the innovative and exploratory zeal that he represented,” he continued.

AMERICAN HISTORY WON’T BE DISPLAYED ‘WAKED WAY’ AT SMITHSONIAN, TRUMP SAYS

Portrait of Christopher Columbus, 1519. Found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Artist: Piombo, Sebastiano, del (1485-1547). (Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Applause rang out in the room as Trump added: “In other words, we call it Columbus Day. »

Trump continued his remarks Thursday by saying, “We’re back, Italians,” to applause.

“It was the press that applauded,” Trump joked of the warm reception to the proclamation. “I’ve never seen this happen. The press actually burst into applause. Good. Columbus Day. We’re back. Columbus Day. We’re back, Italians. We love Italians.”

Columbus Day has been a federal holiday since 1971, after decades of the Italian-American community already celebrating the explorer and previous presidents recognizing the holiday with their own proclamations.

In recent years, however, activists have worked to dissociate this day from Columbus – arguing that it celebrates colonialism and the genocide of indigenous people – in favor of celebrating Native Americans. Activists have also worked to remove statues of Columbus from cities, including toppling these statues during the 2020 riots.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris was among the political leaders in favor of celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day rather than Columbus Day, and called on Americans in 2021 to “not turn away” from their “shameful past” as European explorers.

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on October 9, 2025, before a Cabinet meeting honoring Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“These explorers unleashed a wave of devastation on tribal nations – committing violence, stealing land, and spreading disease,” she said just a day after Columbus Day 2021. “We must not run from this shameful past, and we must shine a light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on Native communities today.”

DAVID MARCUS: BRING BACK THE REDSKINS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE DESTROYED BY WAKEUP

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump also signed another proclamation Thursday honoring Viking explorer Leif Erikson, October 9. Erikson is credited with discovering the coast of Newfoundland in Canada over 1,000 years ago and is considered the first European to set foot in North America.