The director of the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library has stepped down after a dispute with the Trump administration over gifting a sword in its collection to King Charles, according to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.
Todd Arrington, the head of the library in Kansas, resigned on Monday after declining to remove an original sword from the library’s collection to give to the King during President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom last month, CBS reported, citing anonymous sources.
Charles was instead gifted a replica during Trump’s UK visit, Buckingham Palace said at the time.
In an interview with CBS News, Arrington said he was told to “Resign – or be fired”.
“Apparently, they believed I could no longer be trusted with confidential information,” Arrington told the outlet, saying the confidential information was related to the sword dispute and an unrelated matter.
The BBC has contacted the White House, the National Archives and Eisenhower library for comment.
US State Department officials were seeking to gift an Eisenhower sword to emphasize the importance of the US-UK relationship after World War II, but Arrington declined and said they couldn’t hand over an artifact that was accepted as a donation, sources told CBS News.
The outlet said it was not clear who in particular requested the sword to present to the king.
Arrington reportedly offered to try to find a different gift, including a replica, but State Department officials continued to request the original sword.
Ultimately, the president and First Lady Melania Trump gave the King a replica of one of Eisenhower’s swords at Windsor Castle in September. They also gave the Queen a Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch.
The situation led to Trump administration officials being unhappy with Arrington, CBS News reported.
Arrington disputed that he had made negative remarks about Trump and his administration.
“That is 100% incorrect,” he told CBS News. “I never said a bad word about anybody. I talked to colleagues about trying to find a sword or artifact, something we could give to them for the president to give to the King, and at no time did I disparage anyone.”
The Eisenhower library has several swords from the president in its collection, including a saber and a sword of honour featured in a current exhibit. Eisenhower, who was the 34th president from 1953 to 1961, served as the supreme commander of the allied forces in Europe during World War II.
Arrington had been working as director of the Eisenhower library since August 2024. It is one of 16 presidential libraries in the US that are run by the National Archives.
The US archivist is responsible for hiring library directors, and the White House does not have a say in the firing and hiring of these employees.
Arrington told CBS that he wanted to go back to his job.
“I’d return to this job in a heartbeat,” he said. “I love the job, I love the people, I love the history. I never in a million years wanted this to happen.”
