INDIANAPOLIS – A cadre of state and national officials unveiled a statue and monument in Indianapolis on Tuesday morning honoring Indiana’s longest-serving U.S. Senator, the late Richard Lugar. Lugar’s decades of public service touched millions of lives, whether through his work on nuclear nonproliferation or reimagining downtown Indianapolis.
The monument is in Lugar Plaza, outside of the Indianapolis City-County Building. Planning for the honor began years ago under the leadership of civic leader Jim Morris, who died in July.
“The career of Dick Lugar spanned over half a century. And because of that expanse and impact, we had to … make sure it’s part of the monument,” said Charlie Richardson. “It comprehends his entire career: a Rhodes scholar, naval officer, school board member, mayor (and) United States senator … the celebration is of that entire arc and the example it sets for the future.”
Richardson, a retired attorney, said Lugar addressed his college fraternity in 1967, the year Lugar was elected mayor of Indianapolis. Richardson worked with Lugar’s administration for two summers.
Lugar died in 2019 at age 87 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. One of Lugar’s most lasting impacts was a program to secure and disarm weapons of mass destruction, which deactivated thousands of warheads and destroyed hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Funds for the monument and celebration were raised privately from hundreds of donors, Richardson said, and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be the keynote speaker.
Read the entire Whitney Downard story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
