Drunk history reveals the story behind the Statue of Liberty, and how Congress stubbornly fought to keep our country free – of the magnificent 300-foot statue. It is difficult to conceive of an image that is more emblematic of the United States than the Statue of Liberty. She has patiently held her torch aloft, greeting waves of people hoping for a new life in the American melting pot for so long, that it is difficult to imagine a time when she didn’t stand watch.
It’s also difficult to imagine a Congress which would decline a magnificent gift, free – but for the cost of the base to set it upon. Okay, it’s not hard to imagine this Congress refusing anything if it had the taint of Democrats, liberals or Obama lovin’ commies on it…But the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, to celebrate our Centennial and a lot of liberty-related sentiment between the two countries. If Congress had prevailed, there would be no symbol of freedom in New York Harbor. In fact, there would probably be a KFC franchise and a strip mall in that very spot.
The sculptor Frederic Bartholdi conceived the idea and set about building the statue only to meet with a dead end , when he tried to present it to the United States. The statue needed a base, and it only seemed fair that the U.S. share in the cost. When millionaires didn’t step forward, Joseph Pullitzer was inspired to use his papers. To rally average Americans across the country, Pulitzer promised to print the names of donors, regardless of the amount they contributed. It proved to be a brilliant plan..As there was no Facebook, and people loved seeing their names in print then, just as they do now. The amount needed for the base poured in. African American papers joined in, encouraging their readers to contribute to a monument that would, in part, commemorate the end of slavery. So the money poured in, as single-dollar donations from grandmothers and pennies from the piggybanks of schoolchildren..