McCrory signs bill requesting Billy Graham statue in US Capitol

CHARLOTTE, NC (WWAY) — Gov. Pat McCrory today signed a bill requesting that a statue of Rev. Billy Graham be placed in the National Statuary Hall of the US Capitol Building.

The statue of Graham would replace one of Gov. Charles Aycock. Critics have called for the statue of Aycock, who served as governor from 1901 until 1905, to be removed due links to white supremacists of his era.

McCrory called Graham, 96, “one of North Carolina’s favorite sons, one of our greatest gifts to the world.”

“From the mountains to the coast, nothing compares to North Carolina’s values, spirit and faith,” McCrory said. “For many generations of North Carolinians, and people around the country and world, Billy Graham has come to personify those values.”

McCrory signed the bill at the Bill Graham Library in Charlotte and was surrounded by several members of the Graham family.

The statue request will now go to the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress for consideration. Congressional guidelines state a person’s statue can only be installed posthumously.

Along with the Aycock sculpture, North Carolina is also represented in Statuary Hall by a tribute to Gov. Zebulon Vance.