Lady Liberty Liberated

As a ship full of young soldiers was returning home from Europe in the aftermath of World War I, a war that generated 37 million causalities and 16 million deaths, a young Army Captain wrote to his future bride, “I’ve never seen anything that looked so good as the Liberty Lady in New York Harbor.” That soldier was Harry Truman writing a letter to his childhood sweetheart, Bess Wallace. This vision and setting of the statue where, “even the most hard-bitten veteran had trouble blinking back the tears,” was presented again in a speech by President Ronald Reagan at the Opening ceremonies of the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York on July 3, 1986 where the president actually quotes from this letter written by Truman. Only three years prior to this speech, President Reagan would sign the legislation to create the Harry S Truman Home National Historic Site. Flash back again, this time one hundred years to the summer of 1884, the corner stone for the foundation that supports Lady Liberty in New York Harbor was laid, the statue was officially handed over to the ownership of the United States, and a child was born in Lamar, Missouri who would eventually help preserve liberty and freedom in the world as Commander and Chief. In more recent history, midway through President Truman’s second term, the Boy Scouts of American would dedicate a replica of the Lady Liberty in front of the Palmer School building and across the street from the old Memorial Building, a building dedicated to those WWI veterans who did not make it back on those returning ships through New York Harbor. The Memorial Building, Palmer School, and the Statue of Lady Liberty would eventually become contributing elements of the Harry S Truman National Historic Landmark District. President Truman would pass by that statue thousands of times during his walks through the neighborhood during his time in office and in his retirement. In 2003 the Independence School District celebrated the renovation and preservation of the Palmer School Building while receiving the W.Z. Hickman Award for Historic Preservation. Unfortunately the restoration of statue which had suffered from vandalism and a lack of maintenance was excluded from the School District’s plans. Last year, the City of Independence Beautification Commission was successful in resurrecting Lady Liberty and tasked with finding a more appropriate location for its home. In June of 2009, the restored Statue of Liberty was praised and celebrated at its new location at the new Midwest Genealogy Center located 4 miles away in a suburban site. The Beautification Commission should be congratulated for their successful restoration and relocation. And as the city’s Heritage Commission works diligently to review the smallest of detail for a tiny window on the second floor of a home on Delaware Street, we somehow need to recognize that a big and important piece of the Truman National Historical Landmark District not only was moved out of the neighborhood but its move was actually a celebrated event. It is my hope that we have a neighborhood where these historic and patriotic symbols of our liberty and freedom are always considered appropriate. We apparently still have a lot of work to do. And maybe we should add a third plaque to the base of Lady Liberty that states, “This statue used to reside in Harry Truman’s neighborhood on the property where he attended school, across the street from where he voted, and on the sidewalks where he walked.”