Civics
10
The Robert A. Taft Memorial Carillon, dedicated in 1959, consists of a 100-foot Tennessee marble tower designed by Douglas W. Orr and a 10-foot bronze statue of Senator Robert A. Taft by Wheeler Williams. Its twenty-seven bells, cast at the Paccard Bell Foundry in Annecy, France, are among the finest in the world; the largest weighs 7 tons and the smallest 126 pounds. Under computer control, the bells strike and play music on the hour and sound on the quarter hour, and they can also be played manually for concerts or official observances. At the dedication ceremony on April 14, 1959, former President Herbert Hoover said that their ringing would be a summons to integrity and courage. Robert A. Taft, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 8, 1889, was the son of William Howard Taft, the only person to serve as both President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Elected to the Senate in 1938, Robert Taft served until his death in New York on July 31, 1953. Congress authorized construction of the memorial in 1955, and popular subscriptions from every state funded it to honor Taft's honesty, indomitable courage, and high principles of free government.
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Washington, District of Columbia · United States
