# Understanding the Preserving Great Americans' Legacies Act of 2025

This bill prevents the Navy from renaming any of its ships that are currently named after eight specific historical figures: Cesar Chavez, Medgar Evers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dolores Huerta, Thurgood Marshall, Harvey Milk, Lucy Stone, and Harriet Tubman. Once a ship receives one of these names, it would keep that name permanently under this law.

The practical effect is straightforward: if the Navy wanted to rename any vessel currently bearing one of these names, it would no longer be allowed to do so. This matters because the Navy does occasionally rename ships for various reasons—sometimes due to budget changes, shifting priorities, or other operational decisions. By locking in these particular names, the bill ensures that the Navy's recognition of these civil rights leaders, activists, and historical figures remains permanent. The bill essentially overrides the Navy Secretary's normal authority to change ship names, at least for vessels honoring these eight individuals.

The people most directly affected would be Navy personnel and the families and communities connected to these historical figures. For the broader public, this is mainly symbolic—it's about whether the government should permanently honor these particular Americans through military vessels or whether the Navy should retain flexibility to change ship names as circumstances warrant. Those who support the bill see it as protecting important recognition of civil rights heroes, while those who might oppose it could argue that the Navy should maintain operational flexibility in how it names its ships.