Correspondence Regarding Washington, District of Columbia Bicentennial Center Mural

Transcription (Scripto)

Read Full Text Only (TXT)

Extent (Dublin Core)

6 pages

File Name (Dublin Core)

s-con_234_004_016

Title (Dublin Core)

Correspondence Regarding Washington, District of Columbia Bicentennial Center Mural

Date (Dublin Core)

1974-02-27

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1974-02-27

Congress (Dublin Core)

93rd (1973-1975)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this value American Revolution Bicentennial, 1976

Policy Area (Curation)

Government Operations and Politics

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

correspondence

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=31&q=

Physical Location (Dublin Core)

Collection 002, Box 234, Folder 4

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Senate Papers-Constituent Relations, 1969-1996

Full Text (Extract Text)

(Page 1)
BOB DOLE
KANSAS

United States Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

STANDING COMMITTEES:
AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
FINANCE

SELECT AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES:
SMALL BUSINESS
NUTRITION AND HUMAN NEEDS

(handwritten) Bicent

March 15, 1974
Dear:

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the mural at the district of Columbia Bicentennial Center. Certainly agree with you that the mural is, at best, in unquestionably bad taste and, having done some personal checking, am glad to report that it has been removed.

The poster-board fronts are being replaced by a painting of famous Americans in our nation's history. Needless to say, I am glad to see this effort to restore the appropriate significance to the 200th anniversary of our proud and good land.

Hope you will let me know whenever I may be of assistance in any way.

Sincerely yours,

BOB DOLE
United States Senate

BD:mmr

(Page 2)
Address tape 09 for C-03

Ms. {redacted}
{redacted}
Dodge City, Kansas 67801 {redacted}

Mr. and Mrs. {redacted}
{redacted}
Emporia, Kansas 66801 {redacted}

(Page 3)
BOB DOLE
KANSAS

United States Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

STANDING COMMITTEES:
AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
FINANCE

SELECT AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES:
SMALL BUSINESS
NUTRITION AND HUMAN NEEDS

(Page 4)
(handwritten) C-03

Feb. 27, 1974
{redacted} {redacted}
Emporia, Kans. 66801

Senator Bob Dole
3227 New Senate O. B.
Washington, D. C. 20510

Dear Senator Dole:

The editorial, in Jan. 28, 1974 issue of U. S. News and World Report has come to my attention. Its title is "Worst Joke in 200 Years", by Howard Flieger.

There are no words adequate to express the horror and disbelief that such a mural is in the Bicentennial Center for the District of Columbia.

If you are not familiar with this editorial I urge you to read it at once.

I also urge you to do something about this deplorable situation, as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,
{redacted}

(Page 5)
(handwritten)
2-20-74
Dear Senator Dole,
Could something be done about this? I think it is intolerable.
Sincerely, {redacted} {redacted}

(handwritten) C-3

(stamp) {redacted}
Dodge City, Ks 67801

(stamp) SENATOR BOB DOLE
RECEIVED
FEB 25 1974
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

(typed article)
Editor's Page

WORST JOKE IN 200 YEARS

BY HOWARD FLIEGER

With varying degrees of originality, communities all across the nation are getting ready to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the United States in 1976.
In 1776, when the country was born, the population was 2.5 million
Now it exceeds 210 million.
If you are one of those millions of American Citizens you have just been insulted.

(highlighted) The Bicentennial Center for the District of Columbia, the nation's capital, was dedicated (end highlighted) on January 14 by the Mayor of Washington. A representative of the White House was there. So were other dignitaries.
(highlighted) Looking down on the occasion was a new mural done for the Bicentennial office (end highlighted) by an artist named H. H. Booker II.
Among the personages depicted-
(highlighted) Karl Marx, (end highlighted) the father of Communism.
(highlighted) Friedrich Engels, (end highlighted) Marx's associate.
(highlighted) Mao Tse-tung, (end highlighted) of the Chinese Communists.
For extra measure, the muralist included a (highlighted) caricature of President Nixon (end highlighted) wearing a mustache and clad in the costume of a movie gangster. He sketched the President's daughter, (highlighted) Tricia Nixon Cox, with an Afro hairdo. He included a portrait of Angela Davis. (end highlighted)
This is Americana?
Where are the Washington, Jefferson, Tom Paine, Ben Franklin and the Adams family?
Where are such symbols of American culture and uniqueness as Washington Irving. Mark Twain and Carl Sandburg? Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington and Thomas Hart Benton? Francis Scott Key and George M. Cohan? John Philip Sousa and Louis Armstrong? Samuel Gompers and Andrew Carnegie? Thomas A. Edison and Mary Bethune? Where are the pathfinders - Lewis and Clark, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong, to name a few?
The list is endless. If portraits are needed to dramatize two centuries, you can take your pick from within our own borders, including many immigrants from other lands.

Granted, the planning for the Bicentennial observance has been uneven, often halting and short of real achievement on a national scale. But hundreds of communities, many States and regions have pitched in with their own projects and are moving ahead to the anniversary with enthusiasm and pride.
Granted, too, there has been honest disagreement. One group, for example, feels that the basic aims of the American Revolution are being overlooked. But such things are legitimate dissent - which is the American way.
The mural in Washington is something else.
A member of the staff of this magazine asked an official of the District of Columbia Bicentennial Commission about the inclusion of the Communist figures. The explanation was that those people are a valid part of the American scene because "all were involved in some way with the United States over the past 200 years."
When asked what Marx, Engels, Stalin and Mao had to do with the U.S., the official, irritated, broke off the conversation.
The muralist explained to a reporter for "The Washington Star-News" that his employer told him to "make faces" on the walls, so he sketched those he considers interesting. He called it a "lot of fun" and seemed to regard the whole affair as a very clever joke.
Marx, Stalin, Mao as characters in an American panorama - this is a joke?
It is a coarse insult to the very word, a desecration of everything truly American from 1776 to today. It is high jinks of the lowest order, done in the poorest taste.
Those who had anything to do with it - whether through deliberate participation, irresponsibility, arrogance or plain ignorance - should hang their heads in shame.

(No part of this or any other page may be reproduced without written permission)

84

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Jan. 28, 1974

(Page 6, addressed envelope)
{redacted} {redacted}
{redacted} {redacted}
Dodge City, Ks 67801

Senator Robert Dole
New Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20500

(stamp)
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE KS 678
FEB 20 [-PM] 1974

Correspondence Regarding Washington, District of Columbia Bicentennial Center Mural

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