United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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House Chamber Seat Back

House Chamber Seat Back/tiles/collection/5/5474.xml
House Chamber Seat Back/tiles/collection/5/5475.xml
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Date

1954

Dimensions

22 5/8 x 22 3/4 x 1/2 in. (57.5 x 57.8 x 1.3 cm)

Accession Number

2004.044.000

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives, Preserved and Returned to the House of Representatives by Harry T. and Mildred Cuyle Fritzinger

Object Details

The bullet hole in this remnant of the House Chamber’s seating differentiates it from every other piece of Chamber upholstery. In 1954, four activists supporting Puerto Rican independence, armed with handguns, opened fire onto the House Floor from the visitors’ gallery, piercing this seat, 120D. The seat’s back, with the bullet hole squarely in the center, was preserved after the Chamber was repaired. In the fusillade, five Representatives were wounded; all survived. Bill Goodwin, a House Page who was in the Chamber during the shooting, recalled that “To this day, I can still hear those bullets going phht-dut, phht-dut alongside of me.”

Rights and Reproduction Information

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Account of the Shooting

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Joe Bartlett shares his memories of the shooting on the House Floor.

Joe Bartlett, Clerk to the Minority, U.S. House of Representatives
Interview recorded October 12, 2006 – Deed of Gift
Transcript (PDF)

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Four Puerto Rican Nationalists Opened Fire Onto the House Floor
Four Puerto Rican Nationalists Opened Fire Onto the House Floor
Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov