Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty National Monument officially celebrated her 100th birthday on October 28,1986. The people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution.

Over the years, the Statue of Liberty has grown to include freedom and democracy as well as this international friendship. The sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The Statue was a joint effort between America and France and it was agreed upon that the American people were to build the pedestal, and the French people were responsible for the Statue and its assembly in the United States. However, lack of funds was a problem on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

In France, public fees, various forms of entertainment, and a lottery were among the methods used to raise funds. In the United States, benefit theatrical events, exhibitions, auctions assisted in providing needed funds. Meanwhile in France, Bartholdi required the assistance of an engineer to design such a colossal copper sculpture. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) was commissioned to design the massive iron pylon and secondary skeletal framework.

Back in America, fund raising for the pedestal was going particularly slowly, so Joseph Pulitzer (noted for the Pulitzer Prize) opened up the editorial pages of his newspaper, «The World» to support the fund raising effort. Pulitzer used his newspaper to criticize both the rich who had failed to finance the creation of pedestal construction and the middle class who were content to rely upon the wealthy to provide the funds. Pulitzer's campaign of harsh criticism was successful. They got the money.

The Statue was placed upon a granite pedestal inside the courtyard of the star-shaped walls of Fort Wood (which had been completed for the War of 1812.) The United States had responsibility for the operation of the Statue of Liberty. After 1901, the care and operation of the Statue was placed under the War Department. A Presidential Proclamation declared Fort Wood (and the Statue of Liberty within it) a National Monument on October 15th, 1924.