House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s father, the late former Baltimore Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., once lauded Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at a monument dedication ceremony in his city over half a century ago.

The statues were torn down by Baltimore authorities last Tuesday after the violent events surrounding the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va. last week.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the statue, first erected in 1948, included a dedication ceremony of prominent city politicians like Pelosi’s father who led the municipality at the time.

At the dedication, D’Alesandro said of the monument, “Today, with our nation beset by subversive groups and propaganda which seeks to destroy our national unity, we can look for inspiration to the lives of Lee and Jackson to remind us to be resolute and determined in preserving our sacred institutions.”

D’Alesandro was joined by fellow Baltimore resident J. Henry Ferguson, who donated the funds to build the monument and whose father was an ally of of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

“They were great generals and great Christian soldiers,” Ferguson said during the ceremony.

More recently, Pelosi herself called for the removal of all confederate statues in the nation’s capitol.

“The Confederate statues in the halls of Congress have always been reprehensible,” Pelosi said in a statement. “If Republicans are serious about rejecting white supremacy, I call upon Speaker Ryan to join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately.”

The Washington Post notes there are 12 Confederate statues in the Capitol and it is the decision of each state as to whether to replace the statue that is representing their state.

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