President Donald Trump said on April 23 that his administration plans to coat the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s surface in an “American flag blue” hue.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the renovation work would cost about “a million and a half dollars” and that contractors have already begun laying down materials.
Trump said he initially wanted a turquoise-colored surface but later opted for an “American flag blue” hue suggested by a contractor. “That’s the color I like, he talked me into it very easily,” he said.
“So, it’s being done now,” Trump told reporters. “You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool, the way it’s supposed to be. Much better than it ever was, actually.”
The project is expected to be completed ahead of July 4, when the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence, according to the president.
In a video posted on social media, Trump said he visited the reflecting pool and described it as “in terrible shape,” noting that it had been leaking “like a sieve for many years.”
Trump said the original plan to remove the granite in the pool and replace it with stone would have taken three years to complete and cost about $300 million, so he scrapped that plan and contacted pool contractors who previously worked with him instead.
“And I said, ‘Give me a good price.’ [They said:] ‘We can do it for maybe $1.5 million or $2 million, as opposed to $300 million,’” Trump said of his discussions with the contractors.
“We scrubbed the surface of the existing granite that's been there since 1922. We then grouted all of the granite, fixed it up. It took about two weeks, and now we have a nice, clean surface on which we're putting an industrial-grade swimming pool topping.”
Trump first announced on March 31 that he was working with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to clean up the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, which he said was “absolutely filthy” and should have been cleaned during the Biden administration.
The site has become iconic for hosting historic American gatherings since its opening in 1923 as part of architect Henry Bacon’s design for President Abraham Lincoln’s memorial. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 was delivered to 250,000 people at the site, and it has since held numerous other historic events.
The pool stretches 2,030 feet long and 167 feet wide, holds about 4 million gallons of water, and is 30 inches deep at the center.