The South Dakota Seal
“It’s a great privilege and honor to represent South Dakota here in the United States Senate and in this office. This is their building, and now we will have a permanent piece of South Dakota that will forever stay in this beautiful room in our nation’s Capitol.”
Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.
WASHINGTON — Last week, the state seal of South Dakota was added to the ceiling of Sen. John Thune’s (R-S.D.) majority whip office. This carries on a tradition that the occupant of the Republican whip office add his or her home state’s seal to the space. The South Dakota state seal was hand-painted by staff in the Architect of the Capitol’s office, which is responsible for maintaining and preserving the Capitol building for the American people.
“There’s a neat history that comes with the office of the majority whip,” said Thune. “Each office holder here has the opportunity to be able to add his state’s seal, a hand-painted state seal, on the ceiling of this very ornate and beautiful office. The office of the Architect of the Capitol is responsible for maintaining the Capitol, and they’re just very talented. They do hard work every day, making sure that our nation’s Capitol is a place that people from all over the country can have an opportunity to come and visit and enjoy. It’s a great privilege and honor to represent South Dakota here in the United States Senate and in this office. This is their building, and now we will have a permanent piece of South Dakota that will forever stay in this beautiful room in our nation’s Capitol.”
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I’m impressed to see that the words “Under God The People Rule” will be forever enshrined in the majority whip’s office. Thank you, John, for sharing this with those of us back home who may never have the chance to see that in person.
… seriously? Take a break from breathing in your brown paper bag and get out of your mom’s living room to do some traveling to the Nation’s Capitol.
What? Why did that statement bother you?
It’s the stupidity of the statement. If you know how many times the seals and mottos are placed around the capitol… it’s a stupid comment.
As if “Under God the People Rule” likely isn’t already in the Capitol somewhere outside of the seals posted outside of every member’s office, in the tunnels between office buildings, and the Library of Congress. Hell, most people wont even be able to read the phrase… let alone identify what state it is given how high it is from the ground.
i guess some people are just weaker in their convictions than I am – I don’t need a visual reminder that there’s something greater than myself – I know it to be true.
Why do feel the need to be such a jerk?
Why are you lashing out at people in such an angry fashion? The offense you’ve taken and the vitriolic way in which you’re responded do not make sense.
who’s angry? I find fault in the comment in general.
If you’re interested in more history on the State Seal.. Check out this page at the Secretary of State’s office:
https://sdsos.gov/general-information/about-state-south-dakota/state-seal-symbols.aspx
The current version of the seal being recreated in Senator Thune’s office was designed by John Moisan of Ft. Pierre, who is designated in law as the current artist of the state seal. (John is also a wonderful guy, and a character).
If you’re interested in recent history on the actual seal, it had hung in the offices of Governor Janklow and Governor Rounds. The only problem is that when it was painted, it was not encased in any manner. For many years it was open to the air like many of the Gubernatorial portraits in the hallways of the capital. When Governor Daugaard took office in 2011, I was at the SOS office, and made a request to retrieve it from the Governor for preservation and archival purposes, which was kindly granted.
The SOS’ office (through me) worked with the state archives to obtain new high quality scans/photography on the seal, as the old representations of the seal were very dated, and not color accurate after many years of being copied. Once the new photography was done, the original seal was transferred to the archives for safe keeping, as it’s an original work, and irreplaceable.
In 2017, the Secretary of State’s office retrieved it from archives for display. But, they finally put it under glass, so it had at least a minimal level of protection. You can view it there today if you stop up and see Mr. Barnett.
I criticize you often, but thanks for sharing this, Pat. And thank you for ensuring the well being of the original seal.
PP does amazing work – often unrecognized but definitely worthy of praise.