The Minnesota House could soon vote on a proposal to swap out a statue of former U.S. Sen. Henry Mower Rice with former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in the National Statuary Hall in Washington.
Humphrey attended the University of Minnesota and helped create the DFL Party. In 1948, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and served three terms. He was the lead author of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and served as vice president from 1965-1969 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He died in 1978.
On Wednesday, The House Rules Committee advanced the plan to ask the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress to grant the change.
House Majority Leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, says his bill would cost the state roughly $300,000 to recast the Humphrey statue and transport it to the U.S. Capitol. The Rice statue would be turned over to the Minnesota Historical Society.
Each state has two statue spaces in Statuary Hall. Currently, Minnesota’s statues depict Rice and former rhetoric and education professor Maria Sanford. Rice’s statue can be removed since it’s been in place since 1916, longer than the 10-year requirement.
Congressional requirements mandate that states put forward statues of marble or bronze depicting “deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.”
Long said Humphrey had a meaningful impact on U.S. history and would be a strong representative for Minnesota.
“I think it’s time that we update our representation; 1916 was a long time ago and I think that the Legislature at that time sent the statue that best represented their impact on the national stage at that time and I think that we’ve had a century of history since then,” Long said.
Authors and historians echoed the sentiment during the committee hearing, citing Humphrey’s contributions to civil rights advances.
“He was a spirited and strong public supporter and his political support helped us in our early struggles for the rights of our people,” said Josie R. Johnson, community organizer and former University of Minnesota regent. “We were friends and colleagues working on our shared political and social issues.”
The bill has not yet moved through a Senate committee.