Posted on 04/25/2009 12:18:26 PM PDT by presidio9
Ronald Reagan became president at a time of recession: the early 1980s when the nation faced double-digit unemployment and a dire economic outlook.
So it is only fitting that he return to Washington now, lawmakers said Wednesday as they passed a resolution giving California approval to put a Reagan sculpture in the National Statuary Hall Collection inside the Capitol building.
Each state is allowed two statues in the hall.
"Just as we find ourselves today struggling with hardship and conflict, Reagan was also confronted with a troubled economy and uncertain times," said Inland Rep. Ken Calvert, who has championed the years-long effort.
"His policies resulted in bringing the economy out of recession and turning it into the largest peacetime economic boom in American history."
The 7-foot bronze likeness of the 40th U.S. president will be unveiled June 3 in the Capitol rotunda during a ceremony to be attended by former first lady Nancy Reagan.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the business and fundraising arm of the Reagan Library, commissioned North Carolina-based painter and sculptor Chas Fagan to create the statue.
Fagan has kept the final design secret.
It will replace a statue of Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister credited with keeping California in the union during the Civil War.
Beyond speaking out against secession, King, a diminutive man known for his fiery personality, founded the West Coast branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, an early version of the Red Cross.
The states can choose any two luminaries as long as they are deceased. Statues of King and 18th century Spanish monk Junipero Serra, who founded many of the California missions, have been on display since 1931.
Congress passed a law in 2000 allowing states to replace their statues, provided they first pass a state resolution.
A handful of states jumped at the chance to bring updated or more recognizable figures to represent them in the Capitol.
The first to go was former Kansas Gov. George Washington Glick, whose statue was replaced in 2003 by one of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Alabama and Michigan are moving to replace current statues with new ones of Helen Keller and former President Gerald R. Ford respectively.
Shortly after Regan's 2004 death, Calvert, R-Corona, called upon state lawmakers to act. Calvert has said that, as a young man, he was inspired by Reagan.
Ultimately, state Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, introduced the resolution to replace King with Reagan. It passed on the last day of the 2006 session.
Though Calvert initiated the plan, Rep. Jerry Lewis, the state's most senior House Republican, carried Wednesday's resolution as a matter of tradition.
"I am honored to have both known and worked with Ronald Reagan," said Lewis, R-Redlands, during his remarks on the House floor. "His memory will live on among all the freedom-loving people of the world."
Largely a formality, the passage of the resolution signified the acceptance of the statue from the state of California.
There was no opposition, and the resolution passed by a voice vote. The Senate is expected to follow suit. Unlike bills, such resolutions do not require the president's signature.
The displaced King statue will be displayed in the state Capitol in Sacramento.
Reagan is the man who shaped my political landscape, he is a true hero who freed more people then anyone else when he ended the Cold War and stopped communist oppression. He deserves this.
Reagan should be in the middle of the Wash. Mall or Mt Rushmore or both.
Reagan will not be on Mount Rushmore Obama will be
America is now a foreign country. One wonders whether things will have to get considerably worse to make the idea of the US as a people with a government, and not the other way around, once again seem natural to a majority of Americans.
Yes, he deserves this AND much more.....like schools named after him....streets named after him.....etc.....
Yeah, I said "should" not "will". :-)
Based here in San Diego is the aircraft carrier USS Reagan
you’re saying they win? that is damn premature. America DOES still have a chance.
Visit Washington DC sometime, and see if you can find a single person who even knows where Reagan National Airport is. They still call it Washinton National. Especially gay men, who blame Reagan for the AIDS epidemic. I'm not making this up, I have had a lot of experience doing business in DC.
Meanwhile, liberals in NY recently voted to change the name of the of the Triboro bridge, the second most used major bridge in NYC (and probably the world), to the Robert F. Kennedy bridge. Normally, I'd say "who cares?," but there are a lot of reasons for not naming a NYC bridge after this man. He wasn't from NY. He didn't even serve one full term as Senator. That term was only eventful in the sense that he used it to launch a presidential campain. He was assassinated durning that campain, and died a relatively young man (also unremarkable for the Kennedy family).
Meanwhile, there no bridges or highways in NYC named for Teddy Roosevlet, Alexander Hamilton, or Nathan Hale three of the most significant names in American History. All have far more important ties to NYC.
I’m buying a jackhammer.
I have visited DC...and I flew into Reagan, but you’re right....I think everyone called it Washington Nat’l.
There will be no Mount Rushmore when 0bama is done. We can only worship one person and it is our Dear Leader...
Getting that resolution past the California Assembly was no small task. There is a long story about how Hollingsworth was able to force the Democrats into approving and releasing the resolution that last day of session. He’s the hero in all of this.
Better a statue of Reagan near the capitol than that damned statue of General Sherman.
Throw a rope around it and drag the damned thing down. And replace it with Reagan.
Turn Shermans bronze in to toilet parts.
Get over it. Sherman was one of the best things to ever happen to the South.
Moonman62,
If folks can protest a lot of southern folks carrying a flag that represents their heritage, I can protest a statue on our Nations Capitols grounds celebrating the man responsible for burning down the south and killing many of its best.
Get over it?
Get over 9-11?
Get over Pearl Harbor?
Get over a lot of things?
NOt a chance.
Imagine what a wondeful world we might live in right now if it weren’t for terrible people like William Tecumseh Sherman. The Civil War would have dragged on costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of young American boys. This may have eventually opened the door to European intervention. The South may have held out long enough to force the Union to capitulate. The best case there would have been an extended period of slavery in the South. The worst is the end of the Union.
The South seceeding was as dumb as Japan attacking Pearl Harbor. From the beginning the outcome was certain. The only question in each case was how many lives it would cost. People who attack Sherman are just as clueless as people who question the morality of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The outcome of the Civil War was certain from the outset? Seriously? I’d like some citation or evidence of that.
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