Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives, Jim Oliver Collection
Object Details
Twelve hundred tiny versions of Representative Claude Pepper of Florida went home with guests at the Congressman’s 84th birthday party. The 1984 gala event raised money for a Florida State University professorship in gerontology. Pepper had long championed senior citizens and services for aging Americans, so his choice of beneficiary was particularly appropriate. The statuettes were apt, too, depicting Pepper in his familiar three-piece pinstriped suit and big, round glasses. He died in 1989, more than half a century after first entering Congress.
