Minnesota House backs plan to replace Henry Mower Rice with Hubert H. Humphrey in U.S. Capitol statue swap

The National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol was established in 1864 to allow states to donate “statues, in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each State, of deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.”

Minnesota is currently represented by education pioneer Maria Sanford and Henry Mower Rice, an early state leader who helped facilitate statehood and was one of its first senators.

“Like Minnesota, many states have chosen to submit one civic leader and one political leader. Many states have also recently chosen to update their statues in recent decades,” said House DFL Floor Leader Jamie Long (DFL-Mpls).

He sponsors HF475 that would request the application to replace the statue of Henry Mower Rice in the U.S. Capitol with a statue of Hubert H. Humphrey be approved by the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress. The Humphrey statute would match what is currently on the Capitol Complex in St. Paul.

Approved 85-44 by the House Tuesday, the bill now goes to the Senate.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial on the Capitol grounds. (Photo by Michele Jokinen)

Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) questioned why the House is acting on this bill when the legislative session must end by May 19 and there are no joint budget targets or deals on education and MinnesotaCare.

The Mower Rice statue was installed in 1916; Sanford in 1958.

“More than a century of Minnesota history has transpired since then. And Minnesotans have accomplished quite a lot on the national stage since then. I believe it’s indisputable that the Minnesotan who had the greatest impact was Hubert Humphrey,” Long said.

Vice president of the United States under Lyndon B. Johnson, Humphrey was the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 1968. He also served 23 years in the U.S. Senate and, per the bill, "worked alongside former University of Minnesota law student and Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen to build a bipartisan coalition to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

Long said Humphrey’s biggest antagonists were often in his own party, particularly on civil rights.

A provision moving in the omnibus state government bill would allow for donations to create the new statue and relocate the Mower Rice statue to Rice County.

“Talking to my county and the administrator there, they are excited to be able to get the statue of Henry Mower Rice back. It’s going to be displayed in their courthouse in a prominent location,” said Rep. Keith Allen (R-Kenyon).

Rep. Bjorn Olson (R-Fairmont) is concerned the placement of a new Minnesota statue could be located in a less prominent location. “Capitol administration has the opportunity to put our new statue anywhere that they desire. … There are state statues in our capitol that are in hallways, that are behind curtains, that are behind other statues. This statue that we are talking about removing today is in Statuary Hall, the prominent place where all the other statues are, where people and visitors go.”

Statuary Hall used to be the House Chamber until the body grew to 435 members.

Long said the Mower Rice statue is currently behind two others in the room; Sanford’s is in the visitor’s center. “I can assure you nobody is putting Hubert Humphrey in a corner and that a former vice president is going to have a place of honor.”