As they say, the idea of the gift belonged to the French writer and political figure Édouard René de Laboulaye (1811–1883). And they asked his compatriot, the famous sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), to realize the idea. And here one can apply the well-known joke: 'We just happened to have it.' Because shortly before those events, Frédéric Bartholdi had proposed to the ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, to install a giant lighthouse in the form of a sculpture of a woman holding a torch at the entrance to the Suez Canal (in connection with its opening). Ismail Pasha refused the costly structure, and the sculptor's idea came in handy.
The framework of the Statue of Liberty was to be calculated by Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923). And he too 'just happened to have it.' Because almost 30 years before the construction of the Statue of Liberty, Gustave Eiffel had bought from two talented engineers – Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier – the design of a 300-meter metal tower. All that remained was to adapt this design to the structure of a 47-meter-high pedestal and the statue figure itself, whose height including the torch reaches 46 meters.
If the story of finding a suitable model had not actually happened, it would have to be invented. For Frédéric Bartholdi found for his work not a graceful Frenchwoman (of which, as you understand, there are plenty in Paris), but a clever and wealthy lady, former American model Isabella Boyer – the widow and heiress of the $22 million fortune of the 'sewing machine king' Isaac Merritt Singer.
In accordance with the agreement between the governments, the French side undertook the manufacture of the statue and its installation at the designated site in the USA, while the American side was to build the pedestal. 'Poor' France managed to scrape together 2.25 million francs; the Statue of Liberty, disassembled into 350 fragments, arrived in New York on July 17, 1885.
But the government of the 'rich' United States of America refused to finance the project, and private individuals took over. One of them was publisher Joseph Pulitzer. He came up with a promotional stunt: he announced a competition for the best text of the inscription that would be displayed on the pedestal. And all those wishing to participate in the discussion of the best text had to make a charitable contribution of at least $1.
In addition, an unusual auction was held – poets sold their previously unpublished poems. Under the terms of another competition, the poem that raised the most money would be placed on the pedestal. One way or another, the required amount was raised.
The poem 'The New Colossus' (1883) by the famous American poet Emma Lazarus was declared the winner. It can be said that the call for freedom, which the statue embodies, was the poet's favorite theme. And so 'The New Colossus' was prepared by the entire course of her short life:
Come to me, your weary crowds,
Those that, like garbage, on your shores.
Let the poor, unlucky and homeless,
Dreaming to inhale a gulp of freedom,
Come to the light at my golden gates...
It brought in $21,000, won first prize, and later, in 1903, was inscribed on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty.
Only men attended the opening ceremony. An exception was made only for the eight-year-old daughter of the builder of the Panama Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps, and Bartholdi's wife. And during the ceremonial speech at the statue's opening, US President Grover Cleveland said: 'We will always remember that Liberty chose this place as her home, and her altar will never be covered by oblivion.'