75-year-old statue to be uprooted, replaced with Reagan likeness

The bronze likeness of Thomas Starr King, which has represented California in National Statuary Hall since 1931, will be replaced with one of a figure more recognizable to later generations: former President Ronald Reagan.

Critics say the measure was passed hastily on Aug. 31, without allowing the public a chance to weigh in.

"This took place at the very end of the very last day of the session and there was no chance to have any public discussion about it,” said the Rev. David Sammons, acting president of the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, a Unitarian seminary named after the influential minister.

Born in 1824 in New York City, King came to California at age 36 to serve as minister of the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. A fiery orator, he spoke out strongly in favor of the Union during the Civil War and was credited by Abraham Lincoln with saving California from becoming a separate republic.

King’s statue sits alongside that of the state’s other representative, the Rev. Junipero Serra, the Roman Catholic founder of nine California missions. Each state is allowed to display two statues of figures who served as leaders within the state or played a significant role in its history.

In 2000, Congress enacted a law allowing legislatures to replace their states’ statues. So far, only Kansas has done so.

In California, only one lawmaker voted against the decision to replace King’s statute, Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Ray, who is Unitarian herself. Some lawmakers abstained from voting.

Bowen, the newly elected Secretary of State, later wrote a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to withdraw his support for the proposal. Joint resolutions do not require the governor’s signature, but congressional rules mandate that a governor approve any proposed changes in Statuary Hall.

On Sept. 15, Schwarzenegger gave his blessing to the resolution in a letter urging the Architect of the Capitol to carry out the statue switch.

"Californians certainly have the right to choose to honor someone else other than (King),” Bowen said in her letter to the governor, "but it’s also their right to participate in the process to ensure that any decision that is made is an informed decision.”

The resolution’s author, Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, argues that lawmakers and others had ample time to speak up, but failed to do so. The resolution was first introduced in 2005 but lingered in various committees.

"Folks who have raised opposition have tried to make it sound like a last-minute thing,” he said. "But there were two years where the bill was able to be analyzed and scrutinized.”

Hollingsworth called Reagan "exceptionally worthy of national commemoration,” and said the former president "stands alone in California history.” Reagan was elected governor in 1967 and served two terms before pursuing the presidency.

Hollingsworth said when he came up with the idea to memorialize the "Great Communicator” in Statuary Hall, he had not heard of King. Transferring King’s statue from Washington to the state Capitol in Sacramento will help acquaint other Californians with his legacy, he said.

"Now fourth graders on school field trips will have the opportunity to get to know King better,” he said.

But Sammons, of the Starr King school, said that is not the point, and is merely an attempt to put a positive spin on a bad idea.

"Here’s a figure extremely significant to the values and history of our state who will just get lost,” he said of King, who died of diphtheria in San Francisco at age 39.

Others object to the specific choice of King’s replacement.

David Dodd, a Unitarian and a librarian in Petaluma, has tried to mobilize opposition to the resolution through Internet postings critical of Reagan. He has written letters to his state and Congressional representatives and encouraged others to do the same.

While King "kept California on the right side during the Civil War,” Reagan was a "ruthless governor” and an "actor posing as a statesman,” Dodd said in a Sept. 6 posting on his weblog, "Librarian in Tie-dye.”

And unlike King, Dodd said, "Reagan is not in danger of being forgotten.”

"As a former president, Reagan will have a place in U.S. history forever,” added the Rev. Grace Simons, minister at the Modesto-based Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County. She said other than being the first California governor to become president, "it’s not clear to me what his impact on California history really is.”

"California only has two visual opportunities in the Capitol to alert people to important moments in its history, and it seems to me they’ve just given one of those opportunities away,” she said.

So far, criticism of the resolution has not stalled its progress. Instead, focus has largely shifted to calls for increased public involvement concerning the state’s statuary representatives in the future.

"I wish a more public process had taken place in the Legislature, but it did not,” Bowen said in her letter to Schwarzenegger. "That is why I’m asking you to establish a public process now to ensure future decisions ... are more carefully considered.”

Bowen has no specific plans to pursue the issue with the governor or other lawmakers in the 2007 session, according to her spokesman, Evan Goldberg.

The Washington, D.C.-based Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation will commission a sculptor and provide the necessary funding for the Reagan statue, which is expected to be placed sometime in 2007, Hollingsworth said. The foundation will also cover the cost of moving King’s statue to Sacramento.

In 2003, Kansas spent about $250,000 to replace a statue of former Gov. George Glick with one of former President Dwight Eisenhower. Carrying out the California resolution will likely cost about the same amount, Hollingsworth’s staff estimated.

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On the Net:

National Statuary Hall: www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation: www.reaganlibrary.com