NC’s Billy Graham statue could be ready for the U.S. Capitol by the end of 2021
North Carolina is still more than a year away from having its statue of the Rev. Billy Graham ready for the U.S. Capitol.
But U.S. House Democrats want to remove the statue that Graham’s would replace much sooner. Charles Aycock, a former governor and white supremacist, is one of the state’s two statues on display in the Capitol. Democrats want to remove North Carolina’s other statue of Zebulon B. Vance, a former governor and Confederate military officer.
The Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee voted Friday to include language to removedthe statues within 45 days of its legislative branch budget becoming law. The GOP-led Senate is unlikely to include language in its version of the budget. President Donald Trump, who has spoken out against removing statues, would have to sign the bill.
The bill calls for Aycock’s statue to be removed specifically. It also calls for the removal of “any individual who served voluntarily at anytime as a member of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America,” which would include Vance.
“It’s time to put an end to glorifying our nation’s darkest hours with displays of prominent Confederate and white supremacist statues in the Capitol, including North Carolina’s statues of Zebulon Vance and Charles Aycock, which was already slated for removal by the General Assembly,” said Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, in a statement. He’s a member of the appropriations committee.
“I was proud to join my colleagues to pass the FY2021 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, which directs the removal of these statues, because our nation’s Capitol should be a welcoming home for people of all backgrounds.”
There are no Black Americans among the 100 statues.
Graham, who died in 2018, is considered one of the most influential religious leaders of the 20th century. The evangelist counseled a series of U.S. presidents and preached before tens of millions in a career that spanned more than 60 years of preaching.
History of Capitol statues
It wasn’t until 2000 that U.S. lawmakers put in place a procedure to replace statues. State lawmakers voted in 2015 to replace the Aycock statue with one of Graham after his death.
Aycock’s statue was placed in the Capitol in 1932 to honor the former governor. Aycock, who was governor from 1901 to 1905, was known for his strong education policies but believed in the “unending separation of the races,” “the dominance of the Caucasian” and the elimination of Blacks from the political process, including voting.
Graham’s statue will go in the U.S. Capitol Crypt, where one statue from each of the 13 original colonies is on display.
Vance served as governor during the Confederacy and again from 1877 to 1879. He was also one of North Carolina’s U.S. senators.
“I know this is part of a larger national debate that other Appropriations subcommittees will address, but we need to make a statement now on something we can control — the removal of statues that many visitors to the Capitol find offensive. This is the People’s House so let’s make sure all people are welcome,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat and House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, in a statement.
Next steps for Graham statue
North Carolina commissioned Charlotte artist Chas Fagan to create the Graham statue. He was chosen from an initial group of more than 40 artists who expressed interest in the project. Fagan created the Ronald Reagan statue in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
A seven-member Statuary Hall Selection Committee, chosen by the state legislature, is leading the process. The group will meet July 29 in Charlotte to review Fagan’s maquette — or small, preliminary model — of the statue, said Garrett Dimond, the committee’s spokesman.
If the committee and Capitol officials in Washington give their approval, Fagan will create a full version of the statue out of clay. If that version is approved, he will make the final version out of bronze or marble.
The money for the project is being raised by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Dimond said. Estimates from other states that have replaced statues put the costs at around $650,000, Dimond said. That includes transporting the Graham statue to D.C. and bringing the Aycock statue to North Carolina.
If there are no setbacks, the Graham statue could be ready by the second half of 2021.
North Carolina is responsible for removing the Aycock statue, and Dimond said the committee is still working with the North Carolina Historical Commission to find an indoor space for it. The statue stands 10 feet tall, weighs up to 10,000 pounds and cannot be displayed outdoors where it’s exposed to the atmospheric elements.
The U.S. House bill says it would store the statues that are removed from public view until arrangements can be made to give them to the states.
Trump recently signed an executive order calling for a Graham statue to be displayed in a new “National Garden of American Heroes” along with more than two dozen others. The garden, to be located “proximate to at least one major population center,” would open by July 4, 2026.
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This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 6:12 PM with the headline "NC’s Billy Graham statue could be ready for the U.S. Capitol by the end of 2021."
