Andrew Jackson equestrian bronze

The Andrew Jackson equestrian bronze was commissioned for the front of Kansas City’s new courthouse, where Harry S. Truman wanted a life-sized likeness of the president he had long admired. Its design joined civic ambition to personal devotion: Truman chose the sculptor after seeing another equestrian statue, then traveled to the Hermitage to check the historical details of Jackson’s clothing.

Commission and Design

While in Charlottesville, Truman saw an equestrian statue of Stonewall Jackson that he considered exceptional and commissioned its sculptor, Charles L. Keck of New York, for the courthouse project. Determined to make the likeness historically accurate, he drove to the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home in Tennessee, to take measurements of Jackson’s clothing. Truman wanted the statue to be neither larger nor smaller than life, explaining, "I wanted a real man on a real horse."

Unveiling at the Courthouse

The bronze was installed at the front of Kansas City’s handsome new twenty-one-story courthouse. At its dedication, held after Christmas, ten-year-old Margaret Truman helped pull the string that unveiled the sculpture as her father watched with pleasure. The unveiling made the work part of a public ceremony while preserving the personal connection behind its commission.

Civic and Personal Significance

The bronze gave the courthouse project a distinct commemorative centerpiece: Truman’s chosen hero stood before a building whose design he had also shaped through his admiration for the Caddo Parish Courthouse and his decision to hire its architect as a consultant. His insistence on a life-sized figure and on measuring Jackson’s clothing connected public display with historical precision. At the dedication, the statue’s unveiling by Margaret brought that civic monument together with Truman’s family life.