WASHINGTON – On this date 70 years ago, Winston Churchill addressed a joint session of Congress. And recently House Speaker John Beohner sponsored legislation to have a statue of Churchill brought into Statuary Hall.
The House has already passed the measure on a voice vote.
WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin, a longtime advocate of putting statues of historical figures from the District in Statuary Hall, questions the need to honor Churchill with the latest proposal.
“How ironic that they can pass a bill without any debate, by suspension, without amendment to put a foreigner in Statuary Hall, but D.C. residents don’t get one of their statues,” he says.
The National Statuary Hall Collection is located in the U.S. Capitol.
Each state has donated a statue of a person notable to their history.
Every state is represented by at least one statue in Statuary Hall. The District of Columbia, however, is not.
Churchill was made an honorary citizen of the United States in 1963.
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