Gerald R. Ford | |
---|---|
Artist | J. Brett Grill |
Medium | Bronze sculpture |
Subject | Gerald Ford |
Location | Washington, D.C., United States |
Gerald R. Ford is a bronze sculpture depicting the former American president of the same name by J. Brett Grill, installed at the United States Capitol's rotunda, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the U.S. state of Michigan in 2011, and replaced one depicting Zachariah Chandler, which was donated in 1913. [1] The statue would later get national recognition during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, where it was photographed donned with a Make America Great Again hat, as well as a Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign flag. [2]
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants.
The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse in 1864 it was repurposed as a statuary hall; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memory of the American Revolution. The Bicentennial culminated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress.
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, which was then renamed National Statuary Hall. The expanding collection has since been spread throughout the Capitol and its Visitor's Center.
Charles Henry Niehaus, was an American sculptor.
Freedom Plaza, originally known as Western Plaza, is an open plaza in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States, located near 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to Pershing Park. The plaza features an inlay that partially depicts Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for the City of Washington. The National Park Service administers the Plaza as part of its Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site and coordinates the Plaza's activities.
The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring American Civil War general and 18th United States President Ulysses S. Grant. It sits at the base of Capitol Hill, below the west front of the United States Capitol. Its central sculpture of Grant on horseback faces west, overlooking the Capitol Reflecting Pool and facing toward the Lincoln Memorial, which honors Grant's wartime president, Abraham Lincoln. Grant's statue is raised on a pedestal decorated with bronze reliefs of the infantry; flanking pedestals hold statues of protective lions and bronze representations of the Union cavalry and artillery. The whole is connected with marble covered platforms, balustrades, and stairs. The Grant and Lincoln memorials define the eastern and western ends, respectively, of the National Mall.
The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the president takes the presidential oath of office. The inauguration takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term.
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected to the office of president or vice president as well as the only president to date from Michigan. He previously served as the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and was appointed to be the 40th vice president in 1973. When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford succeeded to the presidency, but was defeated for election to a full term in 1976.
The United States Capitol rotunda is the tall central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda is located below the Capitol dome, which was built between 1857 and 1866.
On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California at 6:45 p.m. local time. At 8:49 p.m. local time, President Ford's wife of 58 years, Betty Ford, issued a statement that confirmed his death: "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." The causes of death listed on the subsequent death certificate were arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis.
In the United States, state funerals are the official funerary rites conducted by the federal government in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., that are offered to a sitting or former president, a president-elect, high government officials and other civilians who have rendered distinguished service to the nation. Administered by the Military District of Washington (MDW), a command unit of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region, state funerals are greatly influenced by protocol, steeped in tradition, and rich in history. However, the overall planning as well as the decision to hold a state funeral, is largely determined by a president and their family.
George Washington is a public artwork by American sculptor Donald De Lue, located on the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The bronze statue of George Washington that occupies the Indiana Statehouse south lawn is one of several copies of a 1959 original wax cast at the Modern Art Foundry in Long Island, New York.
The Emperor Has No Balls is a series of sculptures depicting Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, by the activist art collective Indecline.
Robert E. Lee on Traveller is a bronze sculpture by Alexander Phimister Proctor depicting the Confederate general of the same name, his horse Traveller, and a young Confederate States Army officer, formerly installed at Dallas' Turtle Creek Park, in the U.S. state of Texas. The statue was unveiled by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, removed in 2017, and sold by the city for $1,435,000 to a law firm. It now stands on a Texan golf course.
Zachariah Chandler is a statue depicting the politician of the same name by Charles Henry Niehaus, formerly installed in Washington, D.C., representing the U.S. state of Michigan in the National Statuary Hall Collection. In 2011, the statue was relocated to the atrium of Lansing's Constitution Hall, and replaced by another depicting Gerald Ford.
Dump Trump is a 16 feet (4.9 m) high statue of former United States President Donald Trump sitting on a golden toilet. The sculpture was temporarily installed in Central London's Trafalgar Square ahead of his 2019 visit to the United Kingdom, and displayed during the Trump-organised Salute to America in Washington DC, on 4 July 2019.
James Brett Blanton is an American professional engineer who served as Architect of the Capitol (AOC) from January 2020 until February 13, 2023 overseeing the office of the Architect of the Capitol and its more than 2,400 employees.