Roger Marshall: “this week, after waiting more than 20 years, Amelia Earhart's statue will replace fellow Atchison, KS, native and former…”

“this week, after waiting more than 20 years, Amelia Earhart's statue will replace fellow Atchison, KS, native and former U.S. Senator John Ingalls in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Amelia will join President Dwight D. Eisenhower, our Nation's 34th President and Abilene, KS, native, as one of Kansas's two tribute statues in the Capitol Building. President Eisenhower's statue was placed in the Capitol Rotunda in 2003, but Amelia's journey to our Nation's Capitol has taken much longer. Kansans, and especially the people of Atchison, persevered, just as Amelia did in her pursuit of flight, to coordinate and create a bronze statue and limestone base--an appropriate nod to our State's signature natural stone. It was 85 years ago this month that Amelia Earhart vanished over the vast Pacific Ocean. She had already completed more than three-fourths of her trip, which would have made her the first pilot ever to circle the Earth at its equator. Amelia had already made history before this flight. She was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States. In defying odds and expectations with each new accomplishment, she became a global superstar and one of the most accomplished pilots in history.…”