Debates over what visitors will see and experience in the nation’s capital city have taken center stage as Americans prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

For President Donald J. Trump, the event inspired a massive redevelopment project. Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has argued that Washington, D.C., needs serious renovation. To date, the president’s beautification projects include repainting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue,” demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make room for the construction of a large ballroom, and plans for a 250-foot-tall “triumphal arch” near Arlington National Cemetery.

For Trump, how the city looks is perhaps more important than what the city symbolizes.

As a scholar of U.S. presidential rhetoric and political communication, I study how leaders use words and actions to create a particular vision of the United States to national and global audiences, and sustain it. My current book project traces the rhetorical history of Washington, D.C.

In my research, it has become clear that this preoccupation with cultivating the city’s image is not new. In fact, it is built into the very foundations of Washington itself.

Washington was built to be seen

Early U.S. political leaders put considerable thought into how the new capital city would appear to citizens and visitors alike.

In March 1791, French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant reported to George Washington that he had found “a most elligible position for the First Setlement of a grand city” after a survey of land that would become the nation’s capital. “(F)rom these height(s) Every Grand building would rear........

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