Statue of Liberty won’t be returned to France, White House responds

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The Statue of Liberty — a gift from France to the United States to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — has now become a point of contention between the two countries, after a French politician said it should be returned.

When asked whether or not the iconic symbol of freedom would be sent back, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “Absolutely not.”

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“My advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now. They should be very grateful,” she said at a press conference on Monday.

Her remark was in reference to the Second World War, which broke out in 1939 when Nazi Germany annexed Poland. The United States did not join the war until December 1941, but had a pivotal role in its ending.

D-Day, which occurred on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the end for Germany, when American, British and Canadian soldiers landed on the shores of Normandy’s beaches. Although the U.S. did play an important part in defeating Germany, Canadian troops were also considered critical, with 14,000 of them being deployed to Juno Beach, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Leavitt’s comment come after reports that Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of France’s centre-left Place Publique party, spoke out on Sunday. As per The Guardian and Le Monde, Glucksmann was addressing supporters at a Place Publique rally.

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty,’” he said. “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.”

Glucksmann took to X after Leavitt’s response on Monday, addressing the American people in a lengthy series of posts.

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“Since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this,” he wrote. “Our two people are intimately linked by History, the blood we shed and the passion for freedom we share, a passion symbolized by this Statue that was offered to the United States by France to honour your glorious Revolution.”

He continued: “As the press secretary for this shameful Administration said: without your nation, France would have ‘spoken German.’ In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if hundreds of thousands of young Americans had not landed on our beaches in Normandy.”

He said he had eternal gratitude for “these heroes and their sacrifices.” However, he pointed out that the heroes at that time “fought against tyrants” and were not “the friend of Putin.”

“(The America of these heroes) helped the resistance and didn’t attack Zelensky,” wrote Glucksmann, alluding to the contentious meeting between U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting ended with Zelenskyy being asked to leave.

“It is precisely because I am petrified by Trump’s betrayal that I said yesterday in a rally that we could symbolically take back the Statue of Liberty if your government despised everything it symbolizes in your eyes, ours, and those of the world,” he wrote. “It was a wake up call.”

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Glucksmann said that his message was intended to be symbolic: “No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty.”

“The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone,” he said. “And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.”

The Statue of Liberty was an idea proposed by Édouard de Laboulaye, a Frenchman who supported democracy and freedom. It became a reality with the help of sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. The building of the monument was funded by France, whereas its pedestal was funded by the American people, according to The Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Foundation. The statue sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 parts, arriving in the United States in June 1885. It was erected on a small island in the New York Harbor, eventually named Liberty Island, which has been owned by the government since 1801.

The statue was unveiled in October 1886 to then-president Grover Cleveland.

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