President Donald Trump, who revels in pageantry, first floated the idea of putting on a military parade after he witnessed France’s Bastille Day parade last summer. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Trump directs Pentagon to schedule military parade for Veterans Day

President Donald Trump’s plans for a White House-backed military parade are beginning to take shape.

The president has directed the Department of Defense to organize a parade that would take place on Nov. 11 – Veterans Day – according to an unclassified Feb. 20 memo written by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.


The memo, which was summarized to POLITICO by a senior administration official, was sent from McMaster to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. It says that Trump wants Mattis to brief him on “concepts of operation for this event.”

The memo also said that the parade route should begin at the White House and end at the Capitol.

Trump, who revels in pageantry, first floated the idea of putting on a military parade after he witnessed France’s Bastille Day parade last summer as a guest of French president Emmanuel Macron.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“It was a tremendous day, and to a large extent because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July 4th in Washington,” Trump recalled when Macron visited Washington two months later. “We’re going to have to try to top it."

Earlier this month, Trump asked the Pentagon to begin planning for a 2018 parade, the Washington Post first reported, though some administration officials said the conversation had not gone beyond brainstorming.

McMaster’s memo makes clear the administration, at the president’s direction, is moving forward with plans for the parade, and has potentially settled on a date.

The White House on Friday referred inquiries to the Pentagon, which confirmed it was in receipt of the national security adviser's memo.

Whether the president himself will participate in the event remains unclear. Macron took part in France’s parade, riding in an open-top military vehicle alongside the former chief of the French armed forces and surrounded by hundreds of military men on horseback.

