[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 92 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6555-S6556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMENTS BY SENATOR SNOWE AT WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE STATUE REDEDICATION

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I would like to share with my 
colleagues a speech I gave today at the rededication ceremony for the 
Suffrage Statue. I ask that my speech be printed in the Record.
  The speech follows:

       Thank you, Lynn, for that kind introduction. It is a 
     pleasure and honor to be here on a day that recognizes the 
     importance of the role of women in our nation. Speaker 
     Gingrich, you honor us with your presence and the women of 
     America appreciate your efforts and support in returning this 
     statue to its rightful place. And I would also like to 
     commend Karen Staser and Joan Meecham, co-chairs of the 
     Women's Suffrage Statute Campaign--what a wonderful day this 
     must be to see your hard work come to fruition in such a 
     splendid fashion.
       And make no mistake: this effort has meant a great deal of 
     hard work, and the colleagues I join today deserve special 
     recognition for their tireless crusade to ensure that this 
     statue is part of these hallowed halls. The outstanding 
     attendance at this ceremony here in the Rotunda speaks to the 
     symbolic importance of this re-dedication.
       As you know, for years this statue was relegated to the 
     crypt beneath our feet. In fact, a fitting title for the 
     story of the women's suffrage statue could be ``Tales from 
     the Crypt''. While Lady Liberty has stood proudly atop the 
     dome of the United States Capitol, the ladies who fought to 
     make that liberty real for women have languished in its 
     basement.
       In 1995 when a number of us sought the relocation of the 
     statue to its originally intended spot--the Rotunda--we 
     thought that it was a little thing to ask. We never could 
     have imagined that this request, which on its merits seemed 
     so straightforward, would become so problematic. The bottom 
     line is, the debate should not have been about the weight of 
     the statue, but the weight of an argument . . . and the worth 
     of a just cause. When Susan B. Anthony said, ``What is this 
     little thing we are asking for? It seems so little, yet it is 
     everything'' she was talking about a woman's right to vote--
     but she could have been speaking about the moving of her own 
     statue.
       The difficult and circuitous journey these ladies have had 
     from Crypt to Rotunda is in many ways emblematic of women's 
     struggles for justice and equality throughout our history. 
     For too long, women in this country had to endure the myth of 
     what--or where--a ``woman's place'' should be. According to 
     the out-of-date stereotype, a woman's place used to be only 
     in the parlor, the kitchen, and, I suppose, the crypt. Since 
     then, a lot has changed. Today, a woman's place is in the 
     House, the Senate, and yes, in the Rotunda.
       But it was not always this way. It took 73 long years 
     beginning at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848--spanning 
     two centuries, eighteen Presidencies, and three wars--for 
     women to get the right to vote. That's what it took before 
     women won the right to shape

[[Page S6556]]

     their destinies through full participation in this 
     republic.
       Well, it's hard to believe that it has taken them 76 more 
     years--and fourteen more Presidencies--to earn a place of 
     dignity for these three women who fought valiantly for that 
     right . . . three women who changed America--Susan B. 
     Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott.
       But the day has finally arrived and I am extremely pleased 
     to help celebrate their long-overdue ``change of address'', 
     one that is fitting for the accomplishments they bestowed on 
     a grateful nation. There is no question about the symbolic 
     importance of their new home. The Rotunda is the epicenter, 
     if you will, of our American democracy. The Rotunda is ``the 
     symbolic and physical heart of the United States Capitol'', 
     according to the Architect of the Capitol.
       What that means is simply this: what adorns the Rotunda 
     matters. And having this statue here will matter to the 
     throngs of Americans who come to Washington to be inspired by 
     its symbolism. It will matter to the young girls who tours 
     The Capitol and ask of the significance of these heroines. 
     And it matters that visitors from the furthest flung reaches 
     of the globe leave with no doubt about the importance we 
     place on the participation of women in the greatest democracy 
     that this world has ever seen.
       The Rotunda's gilded halls will now not only reverberate 
     with the images of our forefathers, but with our foremothers 
     as well. Granted, the statues and monuments that have 
     inhabited the Rotunda are of great men whose words and 
     actions bequeathed a nation and people who today stand alone 
     at the summit of civilization.
       But we also know that women have played their roles in 
     reaching the summit, as did these three women--Susan B. 
     Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton--in 
     dedicating their lives to getting women into voting booths 
     and out of the shadows of civic life. How could we do no less 
     than to fight to bring their memory out of the shadows of the 
     Crypt? After all, if we are to celebrate all that women have 
     accomplished in America, we must celebrate those who gave 
     life to our dreams. If we are to appreciate all that we have, 
     we must appreciate those who fought for our opportunity to 
     have it. And if we are to exercise our rights with strength 
     and wisdom, we must understand that they came to us not by 
     entitlement but by struggle.
       As we bring the likenesses of these women into the light of 
     day, so too do we take a step toward bringing history into 
     the light of truth. Because for too long, women were the 
     forgotten lines in the narrative of humankind. As these great 
     ladies finally receive the recognition they have earned, let 
     their spirit inspire us to honor and study other heroic women 
     in history who also deserve recognition--like Sojourner 
     Truth, who spoke so eloquently for African-American women. 
     Indeed, it is my sincere hope that Sojourner Truth will soon 
     join these ladies in the Rotunda where a woman of her courage 
     and stature belongs.
       Truth and her remarkable story also highlights the 
     importance of the effort that has begun to create a National 
     Women's History Museum. When you consider that we have 
     memorialized Archie Bunker's chair and Norm's bar stool in 
     a museum in the Nation's Capital--and I think that's 
     fine--it's not unreasonable to think that there should be 
     a place in Washington to memorialize all that women have 
     contributed to America.
       That's why I spearheaded a letter last month to President 
     Clinton, signed by 20 of my Senate colleagues, urging him to 
     establish a Task Force responsible for developing such a 
     museum. This museum will ensure that women's accomplishments 
     are never again relegated to the cellar of the annals of 
     history.
       So let us celebrate today and honor these three great 
     American women. They had courage. They had tenacity. They had 
     strength. And they've certainly had patience.
       It's been 76 years since our country began to fulfill Susan 
     B. Anthony's vision of ``Men, their rights and nothing more; 
     women, their rights and nothing less''. It was the first 
     dramatic step toward the realization that a country founded 
     on the vestment of power in the people would not survive if 
     over half those people were silenced. Let the story these 
     women have to tell be silenced no longer. Let everyone who 
     passes through this grandest of buildings forever hear their 
     voices, and be inspired by lives led in pursuit of justice.

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