To commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, President Trump should complete the Garden of Heroes with a prominent statue of Charlie Kirk at its heart.

Just five years after the turmoil that rocked American cities during the George Floyd protests, now referred to as a “summer of love,” the nation grieves the loss of Charlie Kirk. Kirk was a champion of peaceful dialogue, open exchange, and civil disagreement.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the nation did not witness riots or the destruction of communities and streets. Instead, the response was a collective outpouring through prayer, vigils, and a call for renewed civic unity. This reaction underscored both the enduring impact of Kirk’s work and the crucial role he played in preserving a tradition of dialogue that America was in danger of losing.

Kirk served as a vital counterbalance to the rising tide of hostility and the erosion of civil discourse. In an era when many confused shouting with persuasion and equated violence with conviction, Kirk stood for something different: passionate debate, voluntary exchange of ideas, and the conviction that persuasion, not silencing, is the cornerstone of democracy.

His assassination was more than an attempt to silence one voice; it was a message aimed at intimidating conservative America into silence. Yet, it had the opposite effect. Conservatives have not only raised their voices but have also recommitted to the moral high ground of nonviolent civic engagement.

At the heart of Kirk’s contribution was his lifelong defense of the First Amendment. Free speech was not for him a slogan, nor simply a clause in the Constitution. It was the beating heart of the republic. He believed that America’s promise rested not only on freedom of worship and enterprise, but more importantly, on the freedom to express one’s ideas without fear of reprisal. 

Kirk offered debates on campuses across the country — arguably the one place where open discussion should have thrived — and in doing so he touched a generation of students who had never before seen a forceful yet civil defense of conservative principles. 

For Kirk, to defend speech was not merely to defend conservative speech. It was to defend the American right to disagree. He often reminded audiences that disagreement was not weakness but strength and the mark of a republic robust enough to live with its differences rather than abolish them by decree. In this, he traced his lineage back to the Founders, who in their messy and fractious debates showed that fiery differences were not the enemy of democracy but its guarantor. 

Every nation tells its story through those it chooses to honor. Trump has advanced a proposal for a Garden of Heroes to mark America’s 250th birthday; a living monument of 250 of the greatest Americans. To ask who should be included is to ask whose lives embody our national spirit and values, and Kirk deserves a place among them. 

From the onset, Trump saw that the garden should not be reserved to military generals and political leaders, though their roles are indispensable. He saw that heroes also include the citizens who advanced American excellence in the academy, in civic spaces, and in cultural life.

To some, Kirk’s inclusion will seem political. But honoring him is not about aligning with every policy suggestion he made or movement he led. Rather, it is about recognizing that the silencing of dissent is the first step toward tyranny, and that those who resisted that silencing are among the republic’s greatest guardians. 

Regardless of political affiliation, every American should grieve when voices are struck down by violence. When violence replaces discourse, society replaces citizenship with fear. 

The promise of America has always been fragile. It depends as much on ordinary citizens’ willingness to defend liberty as on the laws written in parchment. Kirk answered that call in a distinctively American way without violence and edicts, but with dialogue. He took his message into the crucible of the modern university, where free discourse was most under siege, and he refused to back down. 

To honor Kirk in the Garden of Heroes is not only to venerate his memory, but to make a statement about the kind of republic America wishes to be in its 250th year. If we believe that civil disagreement is a strength, if we still hold freedom of speech as sacred, even and especially when it is unpopular, then the Garden cannot be complete without him. 

The strength of America lies in its people, in the freedom of disagreement, and in the endless opportunities to compete, persuade, and grow. Kirk belongs in the Garden of Heroes not because he was universally loved, but because he kept freedom of speech alive when it was most at risk. 

Vilda Westh Blanc and Tim Rosenberger are co-founders of Excelsior Action.