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“The Lady” The Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor at the very portal of the New World, greeting millions of the oppressed and venturesome who have crossed the ocean in hopeful search of greater freedom and opportunity. To them, and much of the world, the statue has come to symbolize those ideals of human liberty upon which our nation and government were founded. She began as a token of friendship between France and the United States. She was, and remains, one of the most impressive, colossal statues on the face of the Earth. Like so many of the Americans she inspires, The Lady came to us from humble beginnings. The idea for a statue to commemorate the bonds that join the two nations – who fought on the same side during our Revolutionary War – was said to have been brought up during a dinner at the home of Edouard de Laboulaye, a French historian and professor, in 1865. The United States was not even a century old, yet we had just endured the Civil War and the assassination of a President together as a nation.
Along with many Americans, many French felt that an important symbol of freedom was lost. After all, Abraham Lincoln had been fundamental in freeing the slaves. So the people of France collected money to buy a gift for Lincoln’s widow. Each contributor was limited to a two-cent donation. Together, they purchased a gold medal inscribed: “Tell Mrs. Lincoln that in this little box is the heart of France.” Then, in French, the inscription read: “Dedicated by French democracy to Lincoln, twice-elected President of the United States – honest Lincoln who abolished slavery, re-established the union, and saved the Republic, without veiling the Statue of Liberty.” The Dream Is Born That passion for freedom shared by America and France deeply impressed one of de Laboulaye’s guests at that summer dinner party – a young sculptor from Alsace named Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The talk that night amongst the guests, all prominent in arts and letters like himself, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi would soon have special resonance for young Bartholdi. The conversation turned to topics global in scope, as it often did at de Laboulaye’s soirees, and particularly to the notion of international gratitude. Some of the guests said there was no such thing. Nations, they argued, fend for themselves, and even the closest of countries will separate as soon as one’s self interest conflicts with the other’s. But de Laboulaye disagreed, calling the bond between France and the United States special and unbreakable. Indeed, he said, his land should even consider some sort of monument to commemorate American independence – a monument constructed by the two nations together. Those words would swirl in the young sculptor’s head as he fought in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. When the war ended and his homeland remained in enemy hands, he considered emigrating to America and adopting it as his new home. In doubt about his future and about the ties of two nations, he sought counsel from de Laboulaye once again – and again left the meeting imbued with the belief that ties between countries can be strong. He suggested that Bartholdi travel to America to see for himself and examine the possibility of some sort of joint project to demonstrate the friendship between the two lands. “Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman...” — Emma Lazarus An Inspired Location Like Francis Scott Key so many years earlier, the site of an American harbor inspired what would become an artist’s greatest triumph. As his ship entered New York Harbor, he knew what the monument should be and where it should forever stand as an emblem of the special friendship the two countries shared. His vision would not be lost to the poet Emma Lazarus. In 1883, she wrote these immortal words: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land; here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Finding Funds Her words captured for the ages the symbols of freedom that Bartholdi’s sculpture sought to portray. At the statue’s feet lie the broken shackles of tyranny. The Lady’s tablet, as every schoolchild knows, is inscribed “July 4, 1776.” And her torch, held proudly aloft in her right hand, serves as a beacon for all who seek freedom on our shores. Interestingly, the statue may never have come to be had it not been for the efforts of the famous newspaper editor Joseph Pulitzer. When he took over the New York World in 1883, he made it his mission to raise the funds for a suitable base for the statue. He struggled for years to raise both the public’s 19
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