Board Appointed by President Obama Votes 20-3 That the Kennedy Center's Marble Should Credit President Obama's Restoration

WASHINGTON — The board of the Kennedy Center, each member of which was installed by President Obama after the previous board was dismissed in a single afternoon, voted 20 to 3 on Thursday to inscribe the president's name into the building's white marble facade, resolving by an overwhelming margin a question that had been asked by no one outside the room.

Under the resolution, the memorial to a slain president will now be styled as restored and renovated by the current one, and the ground it stands on becomes a plaza bearing the current president's name — an arrangement scholars describe as unprecedented and the board describes as gratitude, two words that have never before had to share a press release.

The center's main building will meanwhile close for a two-year, $250 million renovation, meaning the freshly credited marble will spend its debut season performing for scaffolding. Aides note the smaller annex will remain open for limited programming, ensuring the arts continue at a volume the arts have been asked to keep down.

The Press notes the vote arrives months after a federal judge ordered separate signage bearing the president's name removed from the building, and that the board must now report Thursday's outcome to that same judge — a sequence in which the institution was told to take the name down and responded by proposing a chisel.

Reaction followed the standing choreography. Voters aligned with the president called the inscription a fitting tribute to a builder; voters opposed called it graffiti with a budget. The Press archives confirm both parties own the full vocabulary — 'restoring the people's house' and 'defacing a national treasure' — and reissue it, swap-ready, whenever the other side holds the chisel.

Historians consulted by The Press could not name another example of a sitting president's name being carved into a predecessor's memorial, though several noted, with professional weariness, that the century is young.

The marble itself, quarried before either party existed, had no comment, and is expected to outlast the argument, the renovation, and — sources confirm — the plaza.