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Page Number: 29

22 

AMERICAN LEGION v. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSN. 

Opinion of the Court 

1919,  respectively.    See  id.,  at  147–148.    And  as  already 
noted, the fallen soldiers’ final resting places abroad were 
marked  by  white  crosses  or  Stars  of  David.    The  solemn 
image of endless rows of white crosses became inextricably 
linked  with  and  symbolic  of  the  ultimate  price  paid  by 
116,000 soldiers.  And this relationship between the cross 
and  the  war  undoubtedly  influenced  the  design  of  the 
many war memorials that sprang up across the Nation. 
  This  is  not  to  say  that  the  cross’s  association  with  the 
war was the sole or dominant motivation for the inclusion 
of the symbol in every World War I memorial that features 
it.  But today, it is all but impossible to tell whether that 
was  so.    The  passage  of  time  means  that  testimony  from 
those  actually  involved  in  the  decisionmaking  process  is 
generally  unavailable,  and  attempting  to  uncover  their 
motivations  invites  rampant  speculation.    And  no  matter 
what the original purposes for the erection of a monument, 
a  community  may  wish  to  preserve  it  for  very  different 
reasons,  such  as  the  historic  preservation  and  traffic-
safety concerns the Commission has pressed here. 
  In  addition,  the  passage  of  time  may  have  altered  the 
area  surrounding  a  monument  in  ways  that  change  its 
meaning  and  provide  new  reasons  for  its  preservation.  
Such  changes  are  relevant  here,  since  the  Bladensburg 
Cross now sits at a busy traffic intersection, and numerous 
additional monuments are located nearby. 
  Even  the  AHA  recognizes  that  there  are  instances  in 
which  a  war  memorial  in  the  form  of  a  cross  is  unobjec-
tionable.    The  AHA  is  not  offended  by  the  sight  of  the 
Argonne  Cross  or  the  Canadian  Cross  of  Sacrifice,  both 
Latin  crosses  commemorating  World  War  I  that  rest  on 
public  grounds  in  Arlington  National  Cemetery.    The 
difference, according to the AHA, is that their location in a 
cemetery  gives  them  a  closer  association  with  individual 
gravestones and interred soldiers.  See Brief for Respond-
ents 96; Tr. of Oral Arg. 52.