INTERACTIVE: Each state has two statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Use this guide to learn about the historical figures the states chose to represent themselves in the U.S. Capitol. Cilck the picture for the biographies. Biographical information courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol.
WASHINGTON – A seven-foot-tall, bronze statue of Iowa’s Norman Borlaug, “the man who saved a billion lives” by developing new varieties of high-yield wheat during the Great Depression, will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol on March 25, the 100th anniversary of his birth.
The Borlaug statue will become part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, a group of 100 historical figures selected by states to be honored with statues in the U.S. Capitol. Each state is permitted two statues, but in 2000, Congress approved a bill allowing states to swap out statues in the collection with new figures. Four states, Michigan, California, Alabama and Kansas, have already replaced one of their statues, swapping out lesser-known figures with statues of prominent Americans. In addition to Iowa, the legislatures of three more states, Arizona, Ohio and Kansas (to replace its second statue), have also passed legislation to make a change in coming years.
Many of the Statuary Hall figures are political giants from U.S. history, including six former U.S. Presidents. Others, like Alaska’s first two senators, Edward Bartlett and Ernest Gruening, are better known in the state they represent. The collection includes a few controversial figures too, such as Gen. Robert E. Lee whose likeness is dressed in his Confederate uniform, and there are also a few surprise figures, like Floridian John Gorrie, the inventor of the ice machine.
Former Cambodian Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, who is now chairman of Iowa’s Norman Borlaug Statue Committee, hosted a reception in Borlaug’s honor in Statuary Hall in 2007. He said he realized at that event that Borlaug deserved to be honored in the Capitol.
“As I gave the toast, I looked around and said well this is the place for Dr. Borlaug someday. I think it’s fair to say that the idea was born there,” he said. “The statue will be unveiled right about the place we stood to offer the toast.”
Borlaug died in September 2009. According to federal law, Statuary Hall statues can only honor the deceased.
Sculpting history: the collection’s statutory origins
Statuary Hall was originally home to the U.S. House chamber. When the current House wing wascompleted in the early 19th Century, there was a vacant chamber to fill. It was suggested that the high-ceilinged room, which connects the Rotunda to the House wing, could be used for a gallery of historical paintings or busts. However, Congress decided to fill it with a collection of full-body statues instead.
In 1864, Congress passed a bill that asked each state to donate two statues of “worthy” individuals to the U.S. Capitol to create the National Statuary Hall Collection.
Statuary Hall is the main exhibition area for the National Statuary Hall collection, statues of prominent Americans donated to the U.S. Capitol by their home states. Each state gets to display statues of two honored citizens in either this chamber or another prominent location in the Capitol. (Sara Olstad/Medill)
With time, however, Statuary Hall became crowded. By 1933, it held 65 statues, some arranged thee-deep, and the structure of the chamber could not support any additional weight. Congress approved a resolution that permitted the relocation of some of the statues. Today, they are found in not only Statuary Hall but also the Capitol Visitor Center, the Rotunda, the Crypt – a circular room beneath the Rotunda — and other areas of the House and Senate wings.
No longer set in stone: updating the collection
Though many of the statues depict iconic American figures, the legacies of some many of those represented are not well known outside of the history books. George Washington Glick of Kansas, a former Democratic governor, for instance, is not as memorable of Virginia’s George Washington, father of his country.
The 1864 law intended for the statues to become permanent, irreplaceable additions to the collection after they were unveiled. Former U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas, worked with former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kansas, to pass legislation updating the 1864 actand allow states to replace dated statues. At the same time, he lobbied Kansas state lawmakers to send a statue of Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of the U.S., to the Capitol.
Tiahrt said the statutes in the Capitol should be reflective of the “characters of the states,” which have evolved with time.
“The ones [statues] we [Kansas] had were wonderful pioneer people, strong-willed, fiercely independent people but then along came a person like Dwight David Eisenhower,” he said. “I think it’s right for states to honor people who come along after the founding of the state and accomplish great things.”
Tiahrt’s efforts paid off. In 2000, the U.S. Congress gave states the ability to replace their statues so long as two conditions are met. First, the update must be approved by the state legislature, and, second, the statue to be be replaced must have been displayed in the Capitol for at least 10 years.
The likeness of President Dwight Eisenhower was added to the National Statuary Hall Collection in 2003. His statue replaced one of a former Kansas governor. It was the first to be replaced following a 2000 law that allowed states to change their statues.(Sara Olstad/Medill)
In 2003, Tiahrt’s second goal was realized when the statue of Eisenhower was unveiled in the ornate Capitol Rotunda. The new Eisenhower likeness replaced the one of former Gov. Glick, which had been added to the collection in 1915.
Since 2003, three other states have made similar exchanges. In 2009, California swapped its statue of Thomas Starr King, a Civil-War era minister who was active in local politics, with former President Ronald Reagan. Alabama substituted Helen Keller for its statue of Confederate soldier Jabez Curry the same year. In 2011, Michigan replaced a statue of post-Civil War era Sen. Zachariah Chandler with one of former President Gerald Ford. Borlaug will be the fifth replacement.
Three more states have passed legislation, the first step of the process, to update a statue. Commissions in all three states are fundraising to privately cover the construction and transportation expenses. Kansas will add a statue of flyer Amelia Earhart to the collection in place of John Ingalls, a post-Civil War-era U.S. Senator. Ohio plans to replace former Gov. William Allen with Thomas Alva Edison, and Arizona will swap out its statue of distinguished World War I soldier John Greenway for one of 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.
Lastly, Oregon’s state legislature is considering a bill to replace the state’s statue of Jason Lee, an 1800s missionary, with one of Mark Odom Hatfield, who died in 2011 after serving in the U.S. senate for 30 years.
Most states elect to make the change because they want to put a more recognizable figure in the Capitol. The campaign in Ohio, however, started not because the state hoped to introduce a pre-selected favorite son or daughter into the collection. Rather, the state legislature wanted to bring one of its two existing figures home, said former Republican State Sen. Mark Wagoner, who chaired the statuary committee.
“His [Allen’s] claim to fame is that he was the leading critic of Abraham Lincoln and the leading critic of the Emancipation Proclamation, which is not necessarily the person we want to have representing Ohio in today’s day in age,” Wagoner said.
Edison was selected based on the results of a statewide poll that was taken at historical sites in 2010. Residents had the opportunity to choose from 10 different historical figures. Edison won more than 30 percent of the approximately 46,000 votes that were cast, and the state legislature ratified the public’s decision.
Changes require time and money
For the most part, the changes have faced minimal opposition. Tiahrt said the only pushback he received about the Eisenhower statue was froma descendant of Glick, whose statue was replaced by Eisenhower’s.
Maryland tried to replace its statue of John Hanson, president under the Articles of Confederation, with one of Harriet Tubman in 2011. The bill to make the switch, however, was blocked in the state senate. Some Maryland state senators thought that the existing statues of Hanson and Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, deserved to stay in the Capitol, in accordance with the original Statuary Hall legislation.
“It was shocking because they’re not well known,” said Lynette Long, president of Equal Visibility Everywhere, an organization that advocates for equal representation between men and women in public artwork.
Representatives of states who have exchanged statues said the process is not easy. Passing the necessary legislation, fundraising, selecting an artist and managing the day-to-day logistics take considerable time, they said. For this reason, some states are hesitant to make changes because they face other more pressing issues.
“We’ve had a lot of issues to face in the state recently and that’s just not one that has gotten a lot of attention,” said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe.
In spite of the difficulties, Tiahrt, who lobbied for the legislation to replace statues, said he is honored that other states have chosen to follow Kansas’ example.
“I was amazed that a farm boy from the Midwest could be the first in history to do something like this in the United States Capitol,” he said.
