Master Mag Templet - Frank's International, Inc.

consciousness about the statue and the funds needed to
give The Lady a place to stay. Philadelphia, Boston,
San Francisco, Cleveland, and Minneapolis all made offers
to pay for the entire cost of building a pedestal and erecting
the statue. Would she mean as much to America standing
in Baltimore Harbor? Would there be a Golden Gate Bridge
if there had already been a statue in San Francisco? And
would a symbol of international friendship and freedom
ring as true to the hearts of us all if it were placed at the
headwaters of the Mississippi River?
Pulitzer didn’t like the answers to those questions, and he
continued his newspaper’s fund-raising drive with renewed
zeal. Indeed, he criticized the rich and poor alike in its pages,
chiding them for failing to realize the importance of the statue
and to do their part to bring her to America and give her a
permanent home. Calling it the “greatest display of international
friendship ever proposed,” he called on schoolchildren
to contribute their pennies as well. He arranged fund-raising
theatrical performances, sporting events, and balls. As word
began to spread, donations for her pedestal came from as far
away as California, Colorado, Florida, and Louisiana.
20
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.
All the while, young Bartholdi continued to design and
develop his masterwork. He knew The Lady must be constructed
of material light enough to travel across the oceans,
but strong enough to withstand both the salty sea air of the
harbor and the bitter Northeast winters. He settled on copper
as the exterior metal, supported by an infrastructure of iron
and steel. That framework, as essential as any element of the
statute in maintaining its strength and beauty, was designed
and executed by none other than Gustave Eiffel, the French
engineer who gained fame some years later by designing a
relatively well-known tower in Paris that bears his name.
Four iron posts extend the entire height of the statue, forming
a pylon that bears its weight. From that backbone extends
a web of beams that support the exterior copper plates.
Construction Begins
The first draft of the statue was a model standing just four
feet tall. Bartholdi perfected and perfected and perfected that
version, until he was satisfied enough to construct a larger
version, this one standing almost 10 feet tall. The next draft
was a statue almost 40 feet tall. That version was divided into
sections that were reproduced four times their size, resulting
in the finished statue. Enlarging each section required about
9,000 measurements and more than 300 sheets of hand-hammered
copper to form The Lady’s exterior shape.
In a December 1882 letter, he wrote: “Work advances. The
statue commences to reach above the houses, and by next
spring we shall see it overlook the entire city.” In June of
1884, Levi P. Morton, the American Minister to France, held
a banquet to celebrate the completion of the statue. Alas,
Eduoard de Laboulaye could not be there. Although he’d
been instrumental in inspiring Bartholdi’s work, he had died
the previous year. In his place as President of the Franco-
American Union, the official body formed to shepherd the
statue’s construction and delivery to America, was Count
Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal.
The Final Touches
On June 11, 1884, Morton hosted a banquet in honor of the
Franco-American Union and in celebration of the completion
of the statue. De Lesseps made these remarks at the banquet:
“This is the result of the devoted enthusiasm, the intelligence,
and the noblest sentiments which can inspire man.
It is great in its conception, great in its execution, great in
its proportions; let us hope that it will add, by its moral value,
to the memories and sympathies that it is intended to perpetuate.
We now transfer to you this great statue and trust that it may forever
stand the pledge of friendship between France and the great
republic of the United States.” In response, his American counterpart
said: “May [it] stand until the end of time as an emblem of
imperishable sympathy and affection between the Republics of
France and the United States.” ■