Here is the story of how the Statue of Liberty got its pedestal when
Joseph Pulitzer, a Jewish immigrant and famous newsman, created one of
the first American crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for it.
When Joseph Pulitzer first saw the Statue of Liberty's head in Paris, he
shared sculptor Auguste Bartholdi's dream of seeing France's gift of
friendship stand in the New York harbor. Pulitzer loved words, and the
word he loved best was liberty. Frustrated that many, especially
wealthy New Yorkers, were not interested in paying for the statue's
needed pedestal, Pulitzer used his newspaper, the New York World, to
call on all Americans to contribute. Claudia Friddell's text and Stacy
Innerst's illustrations capture this inspiring story of how one
immigrant brought together young and old, rich and poor, to raise funds
for the completion of a treasured national monument.