The iconic statue of U.S. President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt has been removed from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where it has stood for over 80 years.
CNN reports that demands for the statue to be removed began over a year and a half ago, with some falsely claiming that the statue was racist. The monument depicts the 26th president riding triumphantly on horseback, with an American Indian on one side of him and an African man on the other side. The process of removing the statue itself began on Tuesday and was completed by Thursday.
A spokesperson for the museum said that the removal was “conducted with historic preservation specialists and approved by multiple New York City agencies.” The museum now plans to renovate the statue-less plaza.
The statue was one of hundreds across the country that was targeted by far-left radicals starting with the race riots of 2020, after George Floyd, a black man with a criminal history, died of a fentanyl overdose while in police custody in Minneapolis. Many monuments were violently torn down by domestic terrorists, while others were removed by local officials who caved to mob pressure. Among the statues targeted were leaders of the Confederacy, some of America’s Founding Fathers, and President Abraham Lincoln.
“The statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing,” the museum first claimed back in June of 2020. “This is conveyed in the statue’s composition: the White man, Roosevelt, is placed in the center on horseback while the other two men are behind him, walking.”
Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-N.Y.) ultimately signed off on the decision to remove the historic statue. The New York City Public Design Commission subsequently voted to have the statue temporarily stored after its removal.
It has since been confirmed that the statue will be relocated to Medora, North Dakota, which is about two hours away from the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Bismarck. The library, which will open in 2026, confirmed that it has entered into a long-term loan agreement with New York City for ownership of the statue.