Statue of Liberty and about two percent of the exterior plates needed to be replaced. Although problems with the armature had been recognized as early as 1936, when cast iron replacements for some of the bars had been installed, much of the corrosion had been hidden by layers of paint applied over the years. In May 1982, President Ronald Reagan announced the formation of the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Centennial Commission, led by Chrysler Corporation chair Lee Iacocca, to raise the funds needed to complete the work. Through its fundraising arm, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., the group raised more than
Working on the Statue of Liberty Liberty – the torch, a long arm, and part of the head of the colossal statue, silhouetted against a clear summer blue. Five workmen are attached to the statue by ropes, including one who is a caricature of Rockwell himself, and one African-American in a red shirt. The inclusion of a non-white figure working with whites, apparently only noticed in 2011, contravened a "Saturday Evening Post" policy of only showing people of ethnicity in subservient roles. The painting came into the possession of Steven Spielberg, who donated it to the permanent art collection of the White House in 1994. It