President Trump’s announcement that he planned to change the name of Veterans Day, on Nov. 11, to “Victory Day for World War I” prompted a backlash from some veterans’ groups, which complained that the move would champion conquest over sacrifice and ignore the sacrifices of most living veterans.
In a social media post late Thursday, Mr. Trump also said he would declare May 8, the date that Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945, “Victory Day for World War II” instead of Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, as it is commonly known in the United States.
But some veterans’ advocacy groups said the focus of the new names on winning overlooked veterans who served in more recent wars that had more mixed results.
“It is not the veterans’ fault if we don’t win wars,” said Allison Jaslow, the chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who also served in Iraq. She added that “Veterans Day should be an acknowledgment of the ways that fellow Americans have served and sacrificed to protect and defend what we have in America.”
In 2023, the census counted 15.8 million veterans living in America. This year, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that about 66,000 American World War II veterans were alive. There are no surviving veterans of World War I.
That means that with Mr. Trump’s proposed name changes, more than 99 percent of living veterans — a group that includes Vice President JD Vance, who served with the Marines in Iraq — would be left without a holiday commemorating their service.
Congress recognized the need for a holiday that would encompass the service of all veterans in 1954, when it passed legislation to formalize Nov. 11 as Veterans Day. Since 1919, the date had been recognized as Armistice Day, in honor of the agreement that the Allied powers and Germany signed to end World War I in 1918. Congress had made Armistice Day an official federal holiday in 1938.
Though presidents enjoy fairly wide latitude to recognize certain occasions or individuals by executive order, only Congress can create binding federal holidays, meaning Mr. Trump cannot unilaterally force an official name change for Veterans Day, which is one of 12 federal holidays that were established by law.
Some veterans’ groups pointed to the history of how Veterans Day was expanded to include all veterans to argue that Mr. Trump’s proposal was undermining the spirit of the holiday.
“Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, honoring the end of World War I — then it was changed to honor ALL who served,” the group VoteVets, a left-leaning political action committee, wrote in a social media post, adding: “Veterans don’t need rewritten history. They need respect — and the benefits they earned.”
Democrats have argued that the Trump administration’s cuts to the V.A., which are expected to include a reduction of 80,000 workers, will undermine veterans’ benefits.
A spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a nonpartisan advocacy organization created in the 19th century, said the group had reached out to the White House to clarify Mr. Trump’s plans and inform the president that it continued to endorse having the holiday honor the service of all veterans.
“Since the original legislation was introduced to change the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day — a day that is dedicated to all veterans who fought for peace — the V.F.W. has endorsed that change,” said Rob Couture, a spokesman for the organization’s Washington, D.C., office.
In February, Al Lipphardt, the group’s national commander, issued a statement criticizing the Trump administration’s plan to cut tens of thousands of jobs from the V.A., and spoke against it in congressional testimony.
Another major veterans group, the Disabled American Veterans, offered the most succinct response to Mr. Trump’s proposal.
Their statement posted online said, “No.”
But one of the largest veterans’ service organizations has been notably silent on the president’s Veterans Day announcement.
A spokeswoman for the American Legion, which was created through congressional charter after World War I and calls itself “the nation’s most influential, effective and dependable advocate of veteran affairs,” declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s idea. The group also declined multiple requests for comment in February when Mr. Trump allowed Elon Musk to fire tens of thousands of federal employees, of which roughly 30 percent are military veterans.
Vietnam Veterans of America, which was started in 1978 and given a congressional charter in 1986, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump’s proposed renaming would effectively return Nov. 11 to its original status as a holiday exclusively marking World War I. But while May 8 is recognized as the end of World War II’s fighting in Europe, it is not the date that the United States declared victory in the overall war.
The battles in the Pacific theater dragged on for several more months and were punctuated by America’s use of nuclear weapons against Japan in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on Aug. 9. Just days later, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced that his country would surrender unconditionally. Victory Over Japan Day, or V-J Day, is celebrated in the United States on Aug. 14 because of the time difference when that announcement was made.
But Japan did not sign a formal surrender agreement until Sept. 2.
Mr. Trump argued in his social media post that “many of our allies and friends” already recognized May 8 as Victory Day, and that the United States should follow suit because in World War II, “we did more than any other Country, by far.”
“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything,” he wrote. “That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”
Poland and France celebrate Victory Day on May 8, while Russia celebrates it on May 9.
Since the start of his second term, Mr. Trump has announced a series of name changes. He ordered that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. Mr. Trump also renamed the tallest mountain in North America as Mount McKinley, undoing a 2015 decision that had restored the peak’s Alaska Native name, Denali.
This week, he announced via social media that he was “reinstating Columbus Day,” though it has been a congressionally established federal holiday since 1934.
Qasim Nauman contributed reporting.
