Statue of Eisenhower finds place in Capitol

WASHINGTON -- It took four years to bring a statue of President Eisenhower to the Capitol, longer than it took the Allies to defeat the Germans during World War II.

Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed a permanent place in the Capitol during a dedication ceremony Wednesday as congressional leaders accepted the sculpture into the National Statuary Hall Collection.

"He would be in awe," said granddaughter Mary Eisenhower of Kansas.

Kansas exchanged the statue for a marble sculpture of a now-obscure former governor, George Washington Glick.

Congress in 1864 allowed each state to donate two statues of people notable to its history to the National Statuary Hall Collection, but no swaps had been allowed until Kansas lawmakers pushed through legislation allowing the swap.

The effort began with U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who said Kansas should be represented by someone as recognizable as Oklahoma's Will Rogers. The toes on Rogers' statue are rubbed shiny by visitors for luck.

"People liked Ike. I still liked Ike. That's why I started with this in 1999," said Tiahrt.

------

On the Net:

National Statuary Hall: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/nat--stat--hall.htm