State Lawmakers Want To Put A Statue Of Billy Graham Inside The US Capitol

American evangelist Billy Graham gestures to a crowd in Moscow?s Olympic arena Friday, Oct. 24, 1992. About 30,000 Christians from across the former Soviet Union assembled in Moscow this weekend to pray and hear Gra... American evangelist Billy Graham gestures to a crowd in Moscow?s Olympic arena Friday, Oct. 24, 1992. About 30,000 Christians from across the former Soviet Union assembled in Moscow this weekend to pray and hear Graham preach sermons on sin and salvation. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) MORE LESS
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Some General Assembly members say it’s time North Carolina native Rev. Billy Graham is honored with a statue inside the U.S. Capitol. His likeness would replace a statue remembering a former governor with links to the white supremacy movement over a century ago.

Bills filed in the House and Senate last week ask a congressional committee to approve the replacement of the statue of former Gov. Charles Aycock for one of Graham, the Charlotte-born evangelist now living in Montreat.

Each state gets two statues inside Statuary Hall. Federal law allows states to request changes.

Aycock was governor from 1901 to 1905 and a fierce advocate of universal public education. But the Democrat also backed segregation and used racial fears during a campaign against Republicans and populists in the late 1890s.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    …as long as it’s a bust in a urinal…

    Make it portable so all the public bathrooms can have a go at it.

  2. There is a bust of Jefferson Davis in the Capital building, just in case we already didn’t know that lawmakers were dicks.

  3. Avatar for vonq vonq says:

    No! No! Hell, no!

  4. Along with a bust of Cheech and Chong?

  5. How about one of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from NC? William Hooper, Joseph Hewes or John Penn?

    Billy Graham? Not so much.

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