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A century ago, the Statue of Liberty almost wore a watch
Federal officials rejected the 1926 proposal to add a glowing watch to the Statue of Liberty, considering it too modern and fearing it would set a precedent for other offers.
- In March 1926, Swiss immigrant watchmakers Benjamin, Oscar, and Ralph Lazarus proposed strapping a giant illuminated wristwatch around the Statue of Liberty's arm. The War Department rejected the plan, deeming it "too modern an ornament" for the classical monument.
- The Lazarus brothers, whose Manhattan shop overlooked New York Harbor, argued the illuminated timepiece was both practical and promotional. Officials worried that accepting one modern accessory might invite endless future commercial demands on the monument.
- A columnist in the Duluth News Tribune mocked the proposal, writing, "Give Miss Liberty a swell new wristwatch and she'll start complaining about the fit of her skirt." The satire warned that commercial interests might eventually alter the statue's appearance entirely.
- Draping black streamers from the statue on May 12, 1926, members of the World War Veterans Light Wines and Beer League protested Prohibition, calling on Congress to loosen the Volstead Act to allow legal beer and wine sales.
- Divided into three camps—"drys," "wets," and "moists"—Americans in the mid-1920s debated Prohibition; the movement found significant support in Minnesota and North Dakota, where large populations of German immigrants viewed the beer ban as an affront to their culture.
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A century ago, the Statue of Liberty almost wore a watch
FARGO — One hundred years ago this spring, the Statue of Liberty nearly got a new accessory: a wristwatch. In March 1926, newspapers across the country — including The Fargo Forum — carried a story about three New York watchmakers who wanted to strap a giant illuminated timepiece around Liberty’s raised arm. The proposal came from the Lazarus brothers — Benjamin, Oscar and Ralph — Swiss immigrant watchmakers whose Manhattan shop overlooked New Y…
·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources17
Leaning Left0Leaning Right8Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution62% Right
Bias Distribution
- 62% of the sources lean Right
62% Right
C 38%
R 62%
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