(Associated Press) Statues of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis have shared the same space in the Kentucky Capitol for more than 80 years, but only one of them was labeled a hero and a patriot — and it wasn’t Lincoln.
That changed earlier this month, when state officials secretly removed a plaque declaring the only president of the Confederacy to be a “Patriot-Hero-Statesman.” State officials announced the removal Thursday, making Kentucky the latest state to alter Confederate monuments following outbreaks of racially-motivated violence.
“There are some people who feel that his role as president of the Confederacy makes him ineligible to be described as a hero,” said Steve Collins, chairman of the Historic Properties Advisory Commission that governs the statue in the rotunda. “We wanted to give a … more objective look at all the things that he did in his career.”
