Statue # 5: James Monroe
Rapid City, South Dakota
America's fifth President (1817-1825) is best known for his "hands off the Western Hemisphere" Monroe Doctrine, but geopolitics is difficult to make appealing in a bronze statue. Instead, sculptors Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby crafted their Monroe figure as an expression of his good manners and affable personality. The President stands, resting one hand on a cane, tipping his top hat to passers-by. Vandals -- perhaps opposed to civility -- stole Monroe's cane in the early 2000s, but it has since been replaced.
Amazing Arcana of the Presidents
Monroe was the most prominent member of the African Colonization Society, whose goal was to convince America's free blacks to move to Africa.
[Discover more fascinating details in the Roadside Presidents iPhone app!]
City of Presidents
Since 2000, Rapid City has commissioned and installed bronze statues of every former U.S. President on its downtown street corners. Visitors are encouraged to take a walking tour of the City of Presidents and inspect the nation's metallic Commanders in Chief. Paper guides are available year-round at the city's main Visitor Center at 512 Main St.