Kerr notes that even Dwight D. Eisenhower, “who sent the [101^st] Airborne to protect the civil rights of black schoolchildren in Little Rock[,] saw the good in Robert E. Lee and recognized the need for young Americans to ‘strive to emulate his rare qualities’” Therefore, Kerr believes that W&L should restore Lee “to the rightful place of honor,” “without embracing any negative aspects of the Lost Cause,” such as racism.

Over thirty years ago, Eugene Genovese observed that the media and academy waged “an increasingly successful campaign” to utterly disgrace the Old South, portraying it more or less as “a prologue to the history of Nazi Germany.”^[1] This kind of teaching gained traction in the twenty-first century with telling effects, as can be seen in the recent destruction and removal of Southern memorials, and the renaming of streets, buildings, and institutions. Some might consider Washington and Lee University to be a case in point. Within the last few years, W&L leaders discontinued Founders’ Day, deleted images of George Washington and Robert E. Lee from diplomas, removed images and references to Lee from the Lee Chapel, walled off the Recumbent Lee memorial at the back of the chapel during ceremonies, replaced Traveller’s headstone with a plaque without any reference to Lee, and renamed the chapel. Over seventy percent of the faculty also voted to remove Lee’s name from the university.

The administration has received pushback for these and other recommended changes. Following a report of the W&L Commission on Institutional History and Community in 2018, a group of concerned alumni formed The Generals Redoubt, now headquartered at Fancy Hill ten miles south of Lexington. In May 2024, one of its board members, Gib Kerr, published a popular-level book titled Un-Cancel Robert E. Lee: An Open Letter to the Trustees of Washington and Lee University.

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