The House voted unanimously Monday evening to place a statue of President Gerald Ford in the Statuary Hall collection.
Ford, who died in 2006, was a Republican Representative from Michigan and rose to Minority Leader before becoming vice president under President Richard Nixon in 1973. When Nixon resigned the next year following the Watergate scandal, Ford assumed the presidency.
The resolution approving the Ford statue was sponsored by Michigan Reps. Fred Upton (R) and John Dingell (D) and co-sponsored by the entire House delegation from the Wolverine State.
Dingell, who served in the House with Ford, said the support of the delegation is a fitting tribute to the bipartisanship that Ford espoused.
“Though we disagreed on many issues, I respected Ford for his ability and desire to bring his party to the table and forge consensus across the aisle,” Dingell said Monday in a floor statement. “He never abandoned his beliefs and based his decisions on the best interests of the nation rather than political merit.”
Upton also praised the former president as “a Michigan original.”
“A seemingly ordinary American who unexpectedly found himself in the presidency at one of our nation’s most tumultuous times, Gerald Ford led with honesty and integrity,” Upton said in a statement. “By standing above the political fray, President Ford allowed a wounded nation to heal.”
The presentation ceremony will be May 3 in the Rotunda.
The Ford statue will replace that of former Sen. Zachariah Chandler (R-Mich.), which has stood in the Capitol since 1914. Chandler was mayor of Detroit and Interior secretary under President Ulysses S. Grant.
Michigan is the fourth state to swap a statue from Statuary Hall for a more modern figure since Congress passed a law in 2000 allowing states to do so.
Acting CRS Director Named
Mary Mazanec has been appointed acting director of the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service. Mazanec will replace Director Daniel Mulhollan, who retires April 2 after 17 years in the position.
Librarian of Congress James Billington will select the new director after consulting with the Joint Committee on the Library. The LOC did not provide a timetable for when that appointment would be made.
Prior to her appointment, Mazanec worked at the Department of Health and Human Services from 2002 to 2010. She also served as a senior adviser to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and its public health subcommittee.
“Her accomplishments demonstrate her ability to integrate the insights of legal and scientific methods, which provide for important aspects of CRS’s analytic work,” Mulhollan said in a statement.
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