Sorry, Uriah M. Rose and Sen. James P. Clarke. Your time is done.
Almost. And maybe.
The two men, an influential attorney and a politician, have resided in the U.S. Capitol since 1917 and 1921, respectively, as guests of the state of Arkansas. Well, more accurately, statues of the men have been there.
Back in 1857, the House chamber in use today was completed. When members moved in, it left their former chamber near the rotunda empty. Of course, it's Congress, so creation of a statuary hall in that space didn't pass for seven more years. The idea was this: Each state would send two statues of people its legislature and governor thought deserving of the honor in the nation's Capitol. Call it an early form of unfunded federal mandate, but by invitation only.
By 1933, Statuary Hall was home to 65 statues, leaving a deficit of space. Indeed, the weight of the statues was too great for the Capitol's floor.
Was it the federal government's first out-of-control, unsustainable program?
Congress voted to give the architect of the Capitol -- that's a real, ongoing job -- the duty of spreading the statues around the building. Each state got one spot in Statuary Hall and a second statue someplace else in the building. I heard someone complained that Arkansas ended up with three statues in the Capitol, but that was a few years ago and it turned out they had just seen newly elected Sen. Tom Cotton in the hallway.
Now, comes state Sen. Bart Hester of Cave Springs with an idea: After 100 years, isn't it about time two more Arkansas figures get a chance? We've all heard of the power of incumbency, but haven't Rose and Clarke worn out their welcome?
The unanswered question is who the new honorees might be.
Given the current makeup of the Arkansas General Assembly, the odds of lawmakers selecting Bill Clinton as one of the two statues is only slightly better than them selecting Hillary Clinton. He is the only president to have ever come from Arkansas, so it's hard to argue legislators would be off the mark by recognizing that.
Out of the 44 men who have been president, only six are currently represented amid the 50 state-provided statues at the Capitol. Those states are California, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. Can you guess which presidents those states honor? (See the answers below.)
Oops. Actually, there's one more president there in the Capitol, a Democrat who was indicted for treason against the United States. He's honored by the state of Mississippi. His name is Jefferson Davis, and he was president of the Confederate States of America. Davis isn't a native of Mississippi, but he did grow up there and served as a congressman and senator representing the state before all that ugliness between 1861 and 1865.
Suddenly, Bill Clinton doesn't look so bad, right? But, that won't work. Turns out the statues have to be of someone who has already shuffled off this mortal coil. Clinton is still very much with us, and long may he be.
My guess is Clarke, who was also the 18th governor of Arkansas, will be the first statue to be replaced.
In the gubernatorial campaign of 1894, Clarke -- a native of Mississippi, by the way -- upheld white supremacy as the keystone of the Democratic Party, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.
"The people of the South looked to the Democratic party to preserve the white standards of civilization," Clarke said in his closing speech of the election.
Sorry, Gov. Clarke (not really). That kind of thinking doesn't exactly fly these days for most Arkansans. Thank goodness.
So who might it be? Hester mentioned Walmart founder Sam Walton and Arkansas native Johnny Cash as possibilities. There will undoubtedly be plenty of other ideas, from entertainers to statesmen to heroic figures, such as a civil rights pioneer.
"It's a big deal," Hester said. "The last people were there for a hundred years. I don't know if these guys will be there 10 or 12 years or 20 years, but it is certainly time for us to pick some new people."
Hester's proposal would be considered in next year's legislative session. It should be an entertaining and educational discussion. I hope our governor and Legislature can do the state proud.
But what if Arkansas selects someone else who doesn't have a pristine background? Well, if we have to, we can fall back on a familiar refrain: Thank God for Mississippi.
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Answer for the Statuary Hall presidents: California, Ronald Reagan; Kansas, Dwight D. Eisenhower; Michigan, Gerald R. Ford; Ohio, James A. Garfield; Tennessee, Andrew Jackson; and Virginia, George Washington.
Commentary on 09/17/2018