Statuary Hall is a large room in the US Capitol Building, in which each state gets to put in two statues of people from that state to honor and represent said state. They can change them at any time.
I had no idea who represented my state (Colorado), but I guessed one would be Byron “Whizzer” White. Mr. White was an All-American halfback at the U of Colorado, a first round NFL draft pick and led the NFL in rushing twice. He then went on to become a Supreme Court Justice appointed by John F. Kennedy, where he served for 30 years.
My other guess was either boxer Jack Dempsey from Manassa, CO or Mercury Seven astronaut Scott Carpenter from Boulder.
I was wrong on all counts, although one was an astronaut, Jack Swigert of Apollo 13 fame. The other I had never heard of, Florence Sabin, but reading her bio I must say she has a very impressive resume. I was impressed to see that New York had chosen George Clinton, but then I realized it was a different George Clinton.
So, a little game: Who would, IYHO, choose (or expect) to be in there from your state, then look it up and see who really is in there and post it here.
Ohio: Thomas Edison maybe? And we’ve had a few presidents, so I’d guess one of them. McKinley? He got shot so there’s at least a sympathy thing.
One is former governor and senator William Allen. I’ve never heard of him. But he’s due to be replaced by Thomas Edison soon, which I assume is because nobody knows who William Allen was. For the other, I was right about it being a president who got shot, but it was Garfield and not McKinley.
I guessed Reagan and Earl Warren for California. Instead it was Thomas Starr King (whom I’d never heard of, though he was “the orator who saved the nation”) and Father Junipero Serra. :smack: (But King was replaced with Reagan in 2009.)
Texas actual: Both were actually correct. I guess the frothing loons in charge of the state haven’t gotten up the nerve to change such prominent choices (or they haven’t thought of it).
Louisiana (where I grew up) guess: My first guess was Huey P. Long, then I had trouble picking anyone else. I finally settled on Louis Armstrong, though I knew I was being a bit silly.
Louisiana actual: I was right on Huey, but wrong on Louis. The second person represented is Edward Douglass White.
California: Can’t imagine - we have quite a lot of famous people, many not originally from here, and many who inspire mixed feelings or controversy. James Marshall? John Frémont? John Muir? Phil Burton? Richard Nixon? (nah) Ronald Reagan? (double nah)
My vote would go to Muir and Frémont, but they actually picked…
Junipero Serra – OK, I guess. Important in California history, though not someone to be particularly proud of, in my opinion. Neither was Frémont, of course, but I have a soft spot for thr crazy bastard.
Reagan?? Seriously, Ronald fucking Reagan? Dammit, I was KIDDING! Says here that Reagan replaced Thomas Starr King in 2009.
Who’s going to replace Serra? Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Actual - Crawford Long, surgeon and “inventor” of inhaled ansthesia (OK, I get that); and Alexander H Stephens, career politician including VP of the Confederate States of America (whu…? Our state politiicans passed up a signer of the Declaration of Independence for the VP of the CSA? Sigh.)
OK, I get it that Abe Lincoln would be too obvious for Illinois. It would be silly to put his statue in Statuary Hall, when he has a somewhat . . . ah, larger statue at the other end of the Mall.
But . . . James Shields and Frances Willard? Seriously? James Shields, the tri-state Senator, who almost fought a duel with Lincoln, and was so miffed at losing his Senate seat that he moved out of Illinois? He has a street named after him in Chicago. That should be enough.
And as for Frances Willard, I don’t like Prohibitionists.
Jane Addams would have been a better choice as a woman from Illinois. For a guy, either Carl Sandburg or Adlai Stevenson. Or if you wanted to go a little more offbeat, Elijah Lovejoy, the martyred abolitionist editor.
Brigham Young and Philo T. Farnsworth. Makes sense: without them, “Sister Wives” wouldn’t exist, and who wants to live in a world like that?
If not for a lucky jumpshot, these two would have been replaced 20 years ago with the Hall’s only joint statue: Stockton to Malone. Thanks a lot, Jordan.
Actual is William Henry Harrison Beadle and Joseph Ward. They were both instrumental in getting the Dakota territory divided into states and pushed education.
It’s funny you brought this up as there was an article in one of the local newspapers not too long ago questioning whether it was time to replace our statues as Beadle’s has been there since the 1930’s and Ward’s has been there since the 1960’s.