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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Removes Woodrow Wilson’s Desk From His Office Over Ex-President’s Racist Views

Gov. Murphy said Wilson’s legacy was being “swept up” in Black Lives Matter protests.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says he’s got a new desk to replace his old one—which was once used by Woodrow Wilson, the former U.S. president who defended segregation and slavery and had a wide reputation for his racist views. Murphy was ridiculed this month for posting a photo of himself observing a moment of silence in honor of George Floyd while sitting at Wilson’s desk. Murphy said he simply forgot the desk had a plaque on it that read “Woodrow Wilson’s Desk,” and set out to replace it after the irony of his photo opportunity was pointed out to him. “As soon as I could get a replacement, which was not as easy as I thought, I got one and I think that was the right thing to do,” Murphy said, according to CNN. Murphy added that the nation was having a “reckoning” and added: “Woodrow Wilson and his legacy is being swept up in that as it should be.” Last week, Princeton University removed Wilson’s name from its school of public policy, with school president Christopher Eisgruber saying in a statement: “Wilson’s racism was significant and consequential even by the standards of his own time.”