WASHINGTON — A standing-room-only crowd filled the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday for the unveiling of President Ronald Reagan’s statue, representing California in Washington’s version of a national hall of fame.
Nancy Reagan called it a “wonderful likeness of Ronnie,” adding, “He would be so proud.”
The former first lady, her voice choked with emotion, recalled her last visit to the rotunda, five years ago when Reagan lay in state. “It’s nice to be back under happier circumstances,” she said.
The ceremony came one day after President Barack Obama signed legislation creating the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission to plan a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Reagan’s birth in 2011.
The 500-pound bronze sculpture features a 7-foot-tall Reagan in a business suit, standing on a 3-foot-high marble pedestal that displays the presidential and California governor’s seals and includes pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Among those attending the event were Reagan-era officials, congressional leaders past and present and members of California’s congressional delegation.
Republicans, who have had little to cheer about since losing control of both Congress and the White House, welcomed a rare moment to celebrate one of their heroes.
“Ronald Reagan’s legacy is intact, and I’m confident it will be for generations to come,” House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke of “the special pride that we take as Californians” in Reagan’s place in the Capitol. She called the marriage between Nancy and Ronald Reagan “one of the great love stories of all time” and praised Nancy Reagan for her support for stem-cell research.
Recalling Ronald Reagan’s sense of humor, Pelosi told a story about the then-governor receiving a birthday cake during a visit to the state Assembly, then led by a political adversary, Democrat Jesse Unruh.
Reagan blew out the candles, and someone called out, “Governor, did you make a wish?” Reagan looked at Unruh and said, “Yes, I made a wish, but it didn’t come true. He’s still there.”
The Reagan likeness replaces a statue of Thomas Starr King, which had stood in the Capitol since 1931 as one of California’s two representatives in the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statues, donated by states to recognize figures important in their history, are a popular tourist attraction.
The Reagan statue stands opposite a statue of a uniformed President Dwight Eisenhower.
The statue of King, a Unitarian minister who was credited with helping to keep California in the Union amid the Civil War, will be put on display in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. California’s other representative in the collection is the Rev. Junipero Serra, whose bronze likeness holds a little mission in his left hand and a cross in his right.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which paid for the Reagan statue, declined to reveal the cost.
Don Ritchie, the Senate’s associate historian, said, although he was sad to see the King statue go, “I’ve rarely met a Californian who knew who he was.”
“I suppose that former presidents will have more staying power,” he said. “Anyway, having your statue in the U.S. Capitol for almost eight decades is a pretty good run, even if it’s not for eternity. And since King was a minister, he would likely have recalled Solomon’s warning in Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”’
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