Libertarian Concerns

I enjoyed Frederick Allen’s “Saving the Statue” in the June/July issue, but in his account of the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Allen did not comment on the torch viewing-area. Will it, and the right-arm access stairway, be reopened or will both areas remain closed to the public?

Mr. Allen replies: Liberty’s right arm and torch balcony will not be reopened to the public. In the statue’s earliest years access was available, but only to visitors who obtained special permission from one of the statue’s administrative bodies. By 1916, if not earlier (archivists are uncertain), the arm was permanently closed to everyone except maintenance people. This was not due to fear that the arm might weaken but because of the inconvenience of the steep, narrow, almost ladderlike single staircase.