Protecting a national icon

Were all national monuments closed?

Most of them. After Sept. 11, any national landmark that officials deemed a possible target for terrorists was declared off-limits to tourists, including the Washington Monument, the Liberty Bell, the White House, and even Hoover Dam. But over the past two years, new security procedures have been put in place, and these tourist sites have all once again begun admitting the public—all except the Statue of Liberty. Today, visitors can take a ferry to Liberty Island, and walk around the statue. But they cannot go inside and climb to the top for the view that has thrilled generations of Americans.

Why is it still closed?

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The statue has long stood as an iconic symbol of the nation’s ideals. More than any other monument, intelligence officials say, the statue fascinates foreign terrorists intent on making a statement. Its location, in the middle of New York City’s busy harbor, is difficult to defend. Its structure is a security nightmare. The interior of the 151-foot-high statue is narrow, cramped, with a winding, 22-story, 354-step staircase to the crown. Evacuating it quickly in the event of a bombing, fire, or chemical attack would be impossible, especially if it was filled with hundreds of people. Rather than take any chances, Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently announced that the stairway to the observation deck inside the crown would remain closed indefinitely. But in July, visitors will once again be allowed as far as the observation deck atop the statue’s pedestal. New exterior staircases will help visitors escape the pedestal in an emergency.

Has the statue ever been targeted?

Many times. In 1964, a New York library clerk named Robert Steele Collier returned from a trip to Cuba convinced that Fidel Castro’s communist island was free of the racial discrimination that he, as a young black man, endured in the U.S. Collier organized a group called the Black Liberation Front, enlisted the help of a Quebec separatist to acquire dynamite, and began planning a symbolic attack on the statue. His group would seize control, plant the dynamite, and blow the head and torch off the “damned old bitch.” The plot was stopped when a New York City undercover agent infiltrated the group. Collier and his comrades were sent to prison for five years. But during the turbulent Vietnam era, angry protesters returned to the statue again and again.

What did they want?

The chance to make a highly visible statement about America’s lost ideals. On Dec. 26, 1971, 15 members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War barricaded themselves inside the pedestal and sent out a note to President Richard Nixon. They demanded an end to the war, saying, “Mr. Nixon, you set the date, and we’ll evacuate.” They gave up after two days. Student radicals in the Attica Brigade occupied the statue in 1974, calling it “a facade put up to make people believe that the ideals of democracy actually exist.” They, too, left peacefully. Later in the 1970s, Iranians briefly took over the monument, to protest the U.S.-backed Shah. Puerto Rican nationalists hung their island’s flag upside down from Liberty’s crown in 1977 and demanded independence from the U.S.

Was the statue ever damaged?

Yes. On June 3, 1980, a time bomb exploded without warning in the Statue of Liberty Story Room, a museum in the monument’s base. Most of the room’s exhibits were destroyed, as was part of its ceiling. But the explosion occurred after the tourists had gone home, and nobody was hurt. The statue itself was not damaged. The FBI suspected Croatian separatists seeking independence from Yugoslavia, but no one was ever arrested.

Was security stepped up?

For the rest of that summer, two extra guards were posted to Liberty Island, and two bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the grounds. A bomb-detecting machine was installed, and intrusion alarms were upgraded. But visitors were still able to enter the statue without being screened. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Lee Iacocca to oversee an $87 million renovation of the statue, which had deteriorated over the century since the citizens of France gave it to the U.S. as a present. Security wasn’t a big concern of the renovation. Much of the money was used to replace the corroding torch and to rebuild the steel support structure inside, designed by Gustave Eiffel, builder of the Eiffel Tower. The statue’s tarnished copper skin was also polished up. In 1986, the newly shiny statue was officially reopened at a fireworks-laden ceremony featuring both Reagan and French President François Mitterrand.

What will security be like this summer?

Officials won’t say, so as to avoid tipping off terrorists. In New York, the decision to continue to keep the stairway closed has sparked controversy, with critics saying that it should be possible to screen each tourist and to reopen the national landmark. “Keep the people out,” said the New York Daily News in an editorial, “and you will turn the statue into an international symbol of craven fear.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that “the terrorists win” unless the National Park Service lets visitors ascend to the crown. “This is a symbol of America,” Bloomberg said. “Come on, let’s stand up and have some guts.”

Thinking the unthinkable