Michael Moline
A resolution to depose Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA, from his place in the National Statuary Hall collection and install Mary McLeon Bethune cleared the Senate Thursday on a voice vote.
SCR 1360, by Perry Thurston, went to the House, where its future was uncertain.
Smith is one of two historical figures whose likeness stands in the Statuary Hall collection, which is distributed throughout the U.S. Capitol grounds.
The other is John Gorrie, an Apalachicola doctor who invented the ice machine.
The Legislature voted last year to bid Smith adieu and create a citizens committee to propose a replacement. Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, finished first in a poll.
In the House, a resolution to replace Smith with Marjory Stoneman Douglas was held up in committee by Rep. Scott Plakon, who said he prefers Walt Disney — who never lived in Florida.
Smith was born in Florida, but left at a young age to attend the U.S. Military Academy. He resigned his commission to join the Confederate army, and is best known as the last of its generals to surrender his forces. He lived most of his life outside the state.
