Nancy Pelosi's father helped dedicate Confederate monument

At left, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; at right, the Lee-Jackson monument in Baltimore, Md. (Reuters)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has ramped up calls to remove "reprehensible" Confederate statues from the halls of Congress -- but left unsaid in her public denunciations is that her father helped dedicate such a statue decades ago while mayor of Baltimore.

It was May 2, 1948, when, according to a Baltimore Sun article from that day, “3,000” looked on as then-Governor William Preston Lane Jr. and Pelosi’s father, the late Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., spoke at the dedication of a monument to honor Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

The article said Lane delivered a speech, and Mayor D’Alesandro “accepted” the memorial.

“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 said in his dedication. “We must remain steadfast in our determination to preserve freedom, not only for ourselves, but for the other liberty-loving nations who are striving to preserve their national unity as free nations.”

He added: “In these days of uncertainty and turmoil, Americans must emulate Jackson’s example and stand like a stone wall against aggression in any form that would seek to destroy the liberty of the world.”

Two members of Congress who contributed books for the 1943 Victory Book Campaign: Representative Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. (left) of Maryland; and Representative Samuel Weiss of Pennsylvania

With President Trump cautioning that the drive to purge Confederate statues could represent a slippery slope, the White House has flagged Pelosi's family history as she fuels the statue opposition.

Counselor Kellyanne Conway tweeted an earlier article from RedAlertPolitics noting Pelosi's father's role.

"That's rich," she wrote.

CONFEDERATE STATUE FUROR HITS CAPITOL HILL AS PELOSI AND OTHERS SEEK REMOVAL

Last week, more than a half century after Pelosi’s father honored the Lee-Jackson monument, it was removed from its post along with three other Confederate statues in Baltimore, according to the Baltimore Sun. The removal came as numerous monuments were removed, vandalized or otherwise being debated in the wake of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., where a counter-protester was killed.

Pelosi’s office did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment on her father’s involvement with one of the Baltimore monuments.

But Pelosi, D-Calif., has been outspoken in fueling the backlash toward symbols of the Confederacy. Last week, she urged House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to remove the 10 Confederate statues memorialized on Capitol Hill “immediately” if “Republicans are serious about rejecting white supremacy.”

When asked why Pelosi, after serving as House speaker for years, never pushed to remove the 10 figures, her office noted that she directed the relocation of the Robert E. Lee statue from Statuary Hall to the basement of the Capitol, known as the crypt.

“As Speaker, we relocated Robert E. Lee out of a place of honor in National Statuary Hall – a place now occupied by the statue of Rosa Parks,” Pelosi said last week.