The recent nomination of Governor Tim Walz as the Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential candidate has jogged some pleasant memories, and triggered this reminiscence. The connection is tenuous indeed, but that’s the way with memory, and with blogging. The connection is that Walz is a native of Nebraska, and that my wife, Annie, and I once visited Nebraska. You could hardly have said that Nebraska, specifically Lincoln, was on our bucket list - unlikely to be on any Australian’s bucket list, really – and the story is a bit convoluted.
Our long-awaited extended trip to the USA was planned for 2013, but had to be cancelled because Annie had a bike accident and broke a humerus bone. The trip had been planned around a conducted tour based on the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, and happily we were able to schedule the equivalent package for the following year; and the postponement allowed us to add in an extra week. All up, our American journey was for eight weeks; and we had a memorable time on every day and in every place.
We flew into Los Angeles and immediately transited to San Francisco for a few days of sightseeing that included the sequoias of nearby Muir Woods.
Then a leisurely drive east as far as the Grand Canyon (viewed both from the rim and from the air), taking in Yosemite National Park and Death Valley on the way, plus a stretch of Route 66. Then back to Las Vegas, via Monument Valley, for a flight to Washington. Here commenced our Frank Lloyd Wright 18-day tour which, in addition to Washington and the Civil War historical locations, took in the art and sights of Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York.
Post-tour we stayed in New York for a few days, then by train to Boston, thence driving through the New England States for the autumn display – including a notable stopover at the Mount Washington Hotel, the location of the negotiation of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the world financial and monetary system put in place after World War II.
Our New England sojourn terminated back in Boston, from whence we flew to Lincoln, then on to Houston, and home.
So why, in this checklist of tourism hot spots, did we include Lincoln, Nebraska? Because Lincoln is home to the internationally famous Quilt Study Centre and its collection. The deferment of our trip for a year had enabled us to incorporate a visit to the annual Houston International Quilt Festival, and fermented thoughts of a stopover at the Lincoln institution on the way. And, so it was planned, and so it happened. What we didn’t anticipate was that the Lincoln Quilt Study Centre is not a museum or gallery, and although it has rotating exhibitions from time to time, it has very few quilts on public display. The bulk of the collection is in non-public conservation storage – 4000 quilts in cardboard boxes. We were able to attend a short symposium at the Centre, but we had allowed for a couple of days in Lincoln and, essentially, we were left with unexpected free time to explore Lincoln itself. That exploration proved to be both frustrating and rewarding.
I suppose William Jennings Bryan (1860 to 1925) is reasonably high in the American pantheon of notables, although he’s hardly known in Australia – except to the few who remember the 1960 Stanley Kramer film, Inherit the Wind. This film was based on the Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee play of the same name, a loose dramatization of the Scopes “Monkey Trial”, the trial that enthralled America in 1925. The Tennessee schoolteacher, John Thomas Scopes, was arraigned for teaching his schoolchildren about evolution. This was contrary to a recently-enacted law that forbade the teaching of evolution in schools. In the lead-up to the trial the local authorities sought to squeeze maximum publicity from the forthcoming event. But it got out of hand.
William Jennings Bryan was approached to be special prosecutor, and accepted, even though he had not appeared in a case for nearly forty years.
Clarence Darrow was then asked to act for the defence. “Darrow originally declined, fearing his presence would create a circus atmosphere, but eventually realised that the trial would be a circus with or without him.” The previous year Darrow had defended Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, the privileged young men who had “thrill killed” the schoolboy son of one of the families in their social circle. The nation cried for execution, but Darrow’s eloquence during his twelve-hours (sic) closing argument achieved, instead, never-to-be-released life sentences. Darrow’s fame brought nation-wide attention to the Scopes trial.
The trial lasted for eight days, Scopes was convicted and fined $100, and the country, and the world, was outraged and/or amused – thanks in part to the reportage of the seasoned journalist H.L. Mencken. The conviction was overturned a year later – on the technicality that the fine was imposed, not by the jury as the law required, but by the judge. Bryan did not live to see his humiliation, he had died five days after the conclusion of the Scopes trial.
The relevance of the Scopes story to our travellers’ tale is that William Jennings Bryan lived in Lincoln for a number of years
Bryan had an illustrious career as lawyer, orator and politician. He resided in Lincoln from 1887, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1890. He stood as the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States on three occasions (1896, 1900 and 1908). Later he served in Woodrow Wilson’s 1912 Cabinet as Secretary of State. Bryan was widely known as “the Great Commoner”. After his parliamentary years he “increasingly devoted himself to prohibition, religious matters, and anti-evolution activism”, while also advocating for the eight-hour day, a minimum wage, the right of unions to strike, and women’s suffrage – impressively progressive for the 1920s, in the USA at least.
Bryan was, by consent, one of America’s more significant politicians……….and here we were in Lincoln, Nebraska, learning that Bryan had lived here, and learning that his former home was nearby, and open to the public. William Jennings Bryan House (also known as Fairview) is located within the grounds of Bryan Medical Centre East Campus, a 664-bed nonprofit facility. The land on which the medical complex stands was gifted by Bryan in 1922. So, into a cab, and off to the hospital. But failure awaited!
The staff at reception regretted that we could not obtain access to Fairview because the current construction works require visitors to book two days ahead. And we’d come all the way from Australia! Long wait for a cab to return us to the Embassy Suites, our hotel in the CBD; but as we arrived back the foyer desk greeted us with the message that the Medical Centre had rung, they had obtained a key to Fairview, and we were welcome to return for a private viewing. We didn’t go back, but sent our thanks for their concern and their trouble.
If the Bryan episode can be termed a failure for us, then the Capitol episode was undoubtedly not. That Capitol episode was an extended visit to the State Capitol building, including a comprehensive and expertly conducted guided tour.
The first thing to note is that Lincoln (population 295000), is the capital city of Nebraska but it is not the largest city. The largest city in Nebraska is Omaha (480000 population). The entire Nebraska population is a mere 1.9 million. The area of the State is 200000 square kms. [Contrast Victoria of 228000 square kms, total population 6.68 million, including Melbourne 5.3 million.]
Given the modest population of Lincoln, indeed the modest population of Nebraska, the magnitude of the Capitol building is astonishing.
This is somewhat explained by the fact that, in addition to the Parliament, the building also houses the offices of the State Governor, the Supreme Court of Nebraska, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals. But it’s not simply its need for significant functional space, the building exudes a sense of triumphalism - explained, to an extent, by the fact that the building replaced not one but two earlier versions. The Nebraska Capitol building is an emphatic statement of can-do optimism
The central tower, rising 122 metres (15 floors) above the three-storey base (and visible for 30 miles), is capped with a dome - and a statue, The Sower, picturing a figure “casting the seeds of life to the winds”, the statue and its pedestal rising 9.8 metres above the dome.
The building was constructed 1922 through 1932, following a design competition. Under the Nebraska Constitution, State indebtedness is limited, and the legislature allocated $10 million to the project, to be payable not from borrowings but from future revenue on an ”as-you-go" basis. Governed by the old-fashioned concept that you shouldn’t spend what you don’t have, this arrangement resulted in the all-up cost being some $200000 under budget. Old fashioned indeed!
Another unique Nebraska feature is that the State legislature is unicameral, that is there is one parliamentary chamber only, no upper and lower houses – an arrangement unique among the 50 American States. It wasn’t always so. When the Parliament building was constructed two legislative chambers were incorporated into the design, but the house of review was abolished in 1937. That space remains as it was the day it ceased to have legislative purpose, and serves other civic (and tourism) functions. The continuing chamber, known as the Senate, has 49 Senators, the lowest number of any of the 51 United States legislatures. And of equal economy, the Senate meets only for 90 working days in odd-numbered years and for 60 days in even-numbered years – although the State Governor may proclaim a special sitting of Parliament…..at which only the proclaimed business may be considered! A further distinction: the Nebraska parliament is nonpartisan. The Senators’ political affiliations are nor recognised; and voting is by secret ballot.
Given that the construction of the Capitol building was programmed through several stages (during which the business of government continued as usual), and straddled the years of the Great Depression, it is perhaps understandable that the building is awash with “messages”. There are numerous inscriptions, exterior and interior, including extracts from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln speeches. The south facade’s bas-relief sculpture honours the magna carta; above the south entrance are limestone carvings of Julius Caesar, Akhnaton and Moses; there are tributes to the Magna Carta, to the Declaration of Independence, to the “Reign of Law”, and to “The Glorification of Faith”; and acknowledgement of the “law-givers”, including Napoleon. The names of the 93 Nebraska counties are cut into the walls. The names of the nine Native American tribes from the Nebraska region are emblazoned, together with carvings of bison and references to traditional agriculture. And there is a Hall of Fame (dating from 1961) “to serve as inspiration for future generations”, with 26 bronze busts, including that of William Jennings Bryan.
There’s no doubt that the interior decoration of the Capitol building’s public spaces is generously full-on, and - from the vantage of later times - reminiscent of the picture palace interiors of the era. But, there’s no denying the splendour and the overarching inclusiveness.
The 2013 Alexander Payne film, Nebraska, is something of a road movie, with the curmudgeonly protagonist mistakenly believing that he has a winning lottery ticket, and journeying to Lincoln to collect the prize. There are a number of shots with the tower of the State Capitol building prominent in the distance – almost fanciful above the flatness of its surrounds. But no more fanciful than the real thing.
Gary Andrews
