As with all things political, you know that there must be a back story (read political deal) regarding how each of these folks were chosen for this special attention in such a special place.
Earlier this year California, acting at the behest of the legislature, replaced its statue of Civil War-era preacher Thomas Starr King - he had been in the Hall since 1931 - with a likeness of Ronald Reagan. Minister King was credited by Abraham Lincoln with helping prevent California from becoming an independent republic during the great rebellion. Quite an accomplishment, but King was clearly not the Gipper.
Alabama's new Helen Keller statue displaced a guy named Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, a Confederate Army Lt. Colonel and pre-and post-war politician. Southern states tend to honor Confederate generals and politicians. Bobby Lee, for example, stands erect for the Old Dominion and Jefferson Davis represents Mississippi.
Some of the picks are no brainers. Utah - big surprise - honors Brigham Young and the Kingfish, Huey P. Long, in full oratorical flourish, stands in the Hall for Louisiana.
Statuary Hall seems to me a particularly American idea - each state honoring its own in the nation's capitol and every pick saying something interesting about each state.
I have not read the new Dan Brown best seller - The Lost Symbol - but I'm told Statuary Hall plays a role in the novel. Considering that the book sold more than two million copies in its first week, perhaps Dan Brown will help a whole new group of Americans discover this unique piece of American real estate.
Once readers have solved the mystery of The Lost Symbol, they can turn their attention to discovering Jacob Collamar, the extremely forgotten Vermonter who was President Zachery Taylor's postmaster general. He, too, is in the Hall.