Trump’s Eisenhower sword gift to King Charles leads to official resigning

The director of the Dwight’s presidential library of Eisenhower resigned after a dispute with the Trump administration to offer a sword in his collection to King Charles, according to the American partner of the BBC, CBS News.

Todd Arrington, the head of the Kansas library, resigned on Monday after refusing to remove an original sword from the library collection to give the king during the visit of President Donald Trump to the United Kingdom last month, CBS, citing anonymous sources.

Charles rather offered a reply during the visit to Trump’s United Kingdom, said Buckingham Palace at the time.

In an interview with CBS News, Arrington said that he was told to “resign – or be dismissed”.

“Apparently, they thought I could no longer trust confidential information,” said Arrington at the point of sale, saying that confidential information was linked to the sword dispute and an unrelated case.

The BBC contacted the White House, the National Archives and the Eisenhower Library to comment.

The US State Department officials were looking to offer an Eisenhower sword to highlight the importance of the American-UK relationship after the Second World War, but Arrington refused and said that they could not put an artifact which was accepted as a donation, sources told CBS News.

The point of sale said he was not clear who in particular asked the sword to present to the king.

Arrington would have proposed to try to find a different gift, including a replica, but the officials of the State Department continued to ask for the original sword.

In the end, President and First Lady Melania Trump gave the King a replica of one of the swords of Eisenhower at the castle of Windsor in September. They also gave the queen a Tiffany & Co 18 -carat bike, diamond and ruby ​​flower spindle.

The situation led those responsible for the unhappy Trump Administration of Arrington, reported CBS News.

Arrington challenged that he had made negative comments on Trump and his administration.

“It’s 100% incorrect,” he told CBS News. “I have never said a bad word about anyone. I spoke to colleagues to try to find a sword or an artifact, something we could give them so that the president gives the king, and at no time did I disparage anyone.”

The Eisenhower library has several President’s swords in its collection, including a saber and a sword of honor presented in a current exhibition. Eisenhower, which was the 34th president from 1953 to 1961, was a supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during the Second World War.

Arrington has been working as director of the Eisenhower library since August 2024. It is one of the 16 presidential libraries in the United States that are managed by the National Archives.

The American archivist is responsible for hiring library directors, and the White House does not have a say in the dismissal and hiring of these employees.

Arrington told CBS that he wanted to return to his work.

“I would go back to this work in the blink of an eye,” he said. “I love work, I like people, I like the story. I never wanted it to never want it to happen.”