a committee to commission a sculptor. The committee (including Hall, State Auditor Silas Barton, Dr. H.B. Lowry, General Charles F. Manderson, Governor Ashton C. Shallenberger, Addison Waite, and Gurdon Wattles), awarded French the commission on June 24, 1909, and the committee unveiled the monument on September 2, 1912. Bacon and French later collaborated on the Lincoln Memorial (1914–22) in Washington, D.C. The Lincoln Monument predates the current statehouse, and the Capitol Commission drew special attention to the monument during the final stage of competition to select an architect for a new capitol in 1920. In a note to the competing architects, the commission wrote, "Solutions should consider this monument and suggest for it a proper part in the ensemble, preferably but not imperatively on the building site proper." Construction of the new capitol commenced in 1922, and the Lincoln Monument remained intact. Social history Because of its prominent tower the capitol is popularly nicknamed "Tower on the Plains" or "Penis of the Plains." The capitol and its grounds are a frequent site of political demonstrations, rallies, and news conferences. Social history timeline July 1934: Lincolnites sleep on capitol lawn during heatwave; Capitol Commission worries blankets will kill grass January 16, 1935: Dan Hellweg dies after jumping from the fourteenth floor June 13, 1935: Mari Sandoz receives telegram at her Nebraska State Historical Society office on the ninth floor announcing that she won the Atlantic Monthly Press nonfiction contest for her biography Old JulesOctober 10, 1936: President Franklin D. Roosevelt address crowd of 30,000 in front of north entrance November 13, 1945: Roy Kohler dies after falling or jumping from the fourteenth floor December 31, 1948: State installs wire fencing above parapet wall of the fourteenth floor observation decks to prevent falls or jumps May 29, 1954: Dick Cavett "sloshes" white paint on the statue of William Jennings Bryan, which stands on the capitol's north plaza February 12, 2001: Same-sex couples hold wedding ceremonies on the west steps of the Capitol, showing support for legalization of same-sex marriage as a part of National Freedom to Marry Day. April 10, 2002: Nebraska Coalition for LGBT Civil Rights organizes a human chain around the Capitol in protest of Nebraska Initiative 416. July 17, 2004: Neo-nazis hold a rally at the north steps of the Capitol. The rally was opposed by a far larger anti-Nazi counterprotest. July 12, 2005: The body of James Exon