{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/national-status-for-liberty-memorial-is-expected-to-be-a-boon", "National status for Liberty Memorial is expected to be a boon", "2014-12-26", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "National status for Liberty Memorial is expected to be a boon \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Friday, December 26, 2014\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Matt Campbell\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            The long-sought designation of Kansas City\u2019s Liberty Memorial as official national memorial to the Great War was, ironically, tucked into a war-spending bill.\r\nThe must-pass bill approved this month finally capped a legislative effort that had been stalled for years.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re just grateful they were able to find an appropriate bill to hang it onto to get the thing passed,\u201d said Matt Naylor, president and CEO of the National World War I Museum. \u201cIt speaks to the ingenuity of the Congress people.\u201d\r\nThe rise in stature is expected to greatly enhance the museum\u2019s ability to court fundraisers, to expand a national advisory board and to attract visitors and traveling exhibits.\r\n\u201cThis enables us to have conversations with prospective funders on a national scale that might otherwise see us as a more parochial or regional museum,\u201d said Naylor. \u201cThis is potentially a very good thing for us.\u201d\r\nMemorial leaders had a successful fundraising event in New York recently and are planning future events.\r\nLiberty Memorial already had the designation of being the \u201cnational museum\u201d for World War I. Now it can add \u201cnational memorial\u201d to its title as well. The monument\u2019s board will explore whether to tweak the museum\u2019s logo or brand.\r\nThe designation was sponsored by local U.S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, Sam Graves and Kevin Yoder and by Sens. Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt.\r\n\u201cThis designation honors the courage and sacrifice of all those who served in World War I,\u201d McCaskill said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s my hope that the Liberty Memorial\u2019s new, national status \u2014 which finally matches its national significance \u2014 shines a spotlight on the site\u2019s unique and extraordinary historical value.\u201d\r\nThe legislation was a compromise with backers of a separate memorial in Pershing Park in Washington, D.C. Both may now call themselves national memorials. But Kansas City\u2019s is far larger and has by far the most extensive collection of materials from World War I in the country.\r\nThe memorial also is home base for the national commission established to commemorate the centennial of the war. Attendance to the war museum here already is up about 30 percent over last year, and attendance at exhibits and programs is up about 500 percent.\r\nLiberty Memorial officials expect even more attention in coming years with the centennial of the United States\u2019 entry into the war.\r\nNext summer, the Australian War Memorial will send an exhibit of war art to Kansas City. It will be the first time the museum in Canberra has sent part of its collection overseas.\r\nThe national designation for Liberty Memorial will make more opportunities like that possible.\r\n\u201cThis will enable us to bring other exhibitions and programs to the museum and memorial that otherwise may not come to the United States, or certainly to the Midwest,\u201d Naylor said.\r\n  Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article5025201.html#storylink=cpy\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/national-status-for-liberty-memorial-is-expected-to-be-a-boon"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7272019758820534, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}