Taras Shevchenko Monument

From www.artukraine.com:

Statement By U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits
Republican--New York State
U.S. House Of Representatives Hearing
Washington, D.C., USA
March 31, 1960

Taras Shevchenko was a bard of freedom. In 1917 it was the poetry of Shevchenko that inspired the Ukrainian movement for independence and encouraged the Ukrainian National Republic in its desperate struggle, alone and unaided, to protect itself against the aggression of the Russian Communists. It was Shevchenko's poetry that encouraged the Ukrainians, forced within the Soviet Union, to continue their struggles for freedom and in World War II encouraged and fostered the Ukrainian opposition to both fascism and communism.

It is only fitting that the statue of such a national hero, who taught the American ideals of patriotism and service to man, should stand in the capital of the United States.