The Capitol Dome

16 about it. Teresa's family is from Málaga, Spain—the same province where Gálvez was born. Aer Teresa learned about the 1783 resolution to hang a portrait of Gálvez in "the room in which Congress meets," she went looking for it. Of course, it was not hanging in the current U.S. Capi- tol, so she searched various buildings in former U.S. capital cities, including Philadelphia and New York. She contacted the U.S. Senate Historical Office and then researched what paintings might have been burned when the British burned the White House and Capitol in 1814. It seemed no one knew anything about the 1783 resolution or the portrait of Gálvez. Finding no trail of the original painting, Teresa decided to contact Members of Congress and to press Congress to honor the resolution to hang a portrait of Gálvez some- where in the Capitol. Among the members of the House who were supportive of Teresa's initiative right away were Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Jeff Miller (FL), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Xavier Becerra (CA), and in the Senate, Robert Menendez (NJ). Teresa also rallied several organizations to this cause. Among these were the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (the DAR) and the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (the SAR). e DAR, the SAR, and about 30 other organizations rep- resented millions of people who supported this effort. At this time, I was serving as the President General of the SAR and immediately became involved in this effort. Teresa contacted several newspapers, and her story about the portrait of Gálvez was the topic of articles in e Washington Post, Roll Call, and Hidden Hispanic Heri- tage. I wrote a piece myself, which was published in the weblog American inker, and I was interviewed by Richard Simon for his article on Teresa and the Gálvez portrait in The Los Angeles Times. The Washington Post dubbed Teresa "the portrait lady." In addition to all the support Teresa garnered for this cause, she also arranged for a replica of a portrait of Gálvez to be donated to the United States so that it could be hung in the U.S. Capitol—and it wouldn't cost the American taxpayer a nickel. e original portrait, from which this rep- lica was copied, was a gi from King Carlos III to General Gálvez himself and is part of a private collection in Málaga. Menendez formally requested that the curator for the Architect of the Capitol hang a portrait of Gálvez in the U.S. Capitol. e Senator's request was approved. e portrait was shipped from Spain to the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C., but since it was not the property of the Spanish govern- ment, the Embassy could not hold the portrait for long. Teresa called me, and we brainstormed where we might keep the portrait until Congress took possession of it. I offered my own home, which was not really practical, but then I had a better idea. I called Lynn Forney Young, the President Gen- eral of the DAR, and asked her if the DAR could take temporary custody of the portrait. e DAR Building houses not only Consti- tution Hall and one of the best genealogical libraries in the world, it also has an accredited museum and gallery. Teresa and Lynn con- nected and, before long, the por- trait of Gálvez was removed from the Spanish Embassy and placed on display at the DAR Building until Congress accepted it to be hung in the Capitol. On 9 December 2014, the por- Fig. 2. ( om le) Sen. Menendez, Lynn Forney Young, the author Joseph Dooley, and Ambassador Ramón Gil-Casares at the portrait's unveiling ceremony. THE CAPITOL DOME

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