This statue of President Ronald Wilson Reagan was donated to the National Statuary Hall Collection by California in 2009.
The former president is depicted as he looked during his term in office, 1981 to 1989. He appears to stand tall but relaxed, a genial and confident smile on his face. He wears his preferred custom-made single-breasted suit and a striped necktie; his right arm is by his side and his left hand rests atop a square column. The torch that appears in low relief on the column suggests the torch of the Statue of Liberty, to which Reagan often referred in speeches as "the torch of freedom" or "Liberty's flame." Eagles decorate the corners of the capital. Reagan's feet are slightly splayed, and the toe of his right shoe overhangs the self base.
The Tennessee Rose marble pedestal, designed by architect James McCrery, includes a narrow band of concrete pieces from the Berlin Wall, the scene of the 1987 speech in which Reagan demanded of the Soviet Premier, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The front of the pedestal is inscribed with Reagan's name, his life dates and the state name California. On the right and left sides are bronze reliefs of the seals of the offices he held, governor of the State of California and president of the United States; inscribed below them are his terms of service.
A bronze plaque on the rear of the pedestal bears a quotation from Reagan's speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention:
America's best days are yet to come.
Our proudest moments are yet to be.
Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.
The California legislature and governor delegated responsibility for the creation of the statue to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, which selected sculptor Chas Fagan and oversaw the design and approval process. This was the second instance of a state's replacing a previously donated statue since such action was authorized by the Congress in 2000 under Public Law 106-554 (40 U.S.C. 187a).
The statue of Reagan was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on June 3, 2009.
Chas Fagan (1966- ) is a self-taught artist who started drawing while growing up in Belgium and Pennsylvania. While studying at Yale University, he began drawing political cartoons; that work became a job in magazine illustration after he completed his degree in Soviet studies. Fagan then shifted to painting and, from there, into sculpture. Fagan sculpts in bronze and works with carvers to complete stone commissions, and he continues to paint. Fagan has several artworks in collections in the U.S. Capitol complex and two portraits of committee chairmen in the House Office Buildings. He has sculpted statues for the Washington National Cathedral and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Monument in Houston, Texas. Fagan has also painted official portraits for the White House and the Vatican. He served a term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 2021.
