The Atlantic Looks at Pete Hegseth's Efforts to Diminish the Role of Blacks in the Military

At Twitchy reported earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance entered the hyena's den that is The View to promote his new book on his Catholic faith, called "Communion." Of course, he was attacked nonstop for the duration of the segment. At one point, Whoopi Goldberg asked Vance about the administration's removal of black heroes.

WHOOPI: When you see... them doing all kinds of removal of information about Black heroes... how does that sit with YOU?

VANCE: What exactly are you talking about, Whoopi?

WHOOPI: So in a lot of the... museums, just there's so many. I just, I, you know, where they're taking… pic.twitter.com/VDU8m1rdKB
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 16, 2026

The post continues:

"… down the actual history that happened in this country. Slavery happened!"

Believe us … Americans are reminded every single day that slavery happened.

The Atlantic, later in the week, decided to pick up on that theme, looking at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's efforts "to diminish the presence of Black people in the military," which was a war on history itself.

Pete Hegseth’s efforts to diminish the presence of Black people in the military is a war on history itself, Jake Lundberg argues. In this week’s Time-Travel Thursdays, he revisits the impact of Black soldiers since the Civil War: https://t.co/7dywYKyh20
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) June 20, 2026

Jake Lundberg writes:

On the eve of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the military order that affirmed emancipation in Texas, such connections are under strain. Pete Hegseth has taken up Edwin M. Stanton’s title as “secretary of war” but not quite his mantle. As my colleague Clint Smith writes in the July issue of The Atlantic, Hegseth has been at work supporting the administration’s project of “delegitimizing the accomplishments—and the very presence—of Black people in the military.” In addition to Hegseth blocking the advancement of Black senior officers and presiding over the restoration of Confederate memorials, the Department of Defense has removed tributes to Black heroes in the Pentagon and on department webpages.