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independence and confidence. With some of the most beautiful women as his models, Christy borrowed their best qualities to create a romanticized goddess who redefined the concept of feminine beauty and influenced fashion for decades. The "Christy Girl" was virtuous, athletic, secure, graceful, and determined. But, above all, she was unde- niably gorgeous, and America could not get enough of her (fig. 6). Countless books, calendars, and prints with her face and figure were sold. Shoes, hats and dresses— and even dances and an entire musical—were named after her. People would frame pictures of the "Christy Girl" and place them throughout their homes. Men would write letters proposing marriage to her. News- papers held contests in the hope of finding her living personification. She became an American icon. As World War I escalated, the United States gov- ernment capitalized on Christy's success and ability to influence American tastes. To build morale, the govern- ment recruited him to paint alluring women for posters to compel thousands of men to join the military and oth- ers to help finance the war effort (fig. 7). A captivating Christy girl in a long, Grecian-style toga would com- mand one to "Fight or Buy Bonds!" Another wearing a soldier's uniform—perhaps one of the first known examples of psychological sexual gender-bending advertising—would challenge men to join the Army, Navy, or Marines (fig. 8). After portraying glamourous women for two decades, Christy (fig. 9) became renowned as the pre- mier authority on feminine beauty. When the Atlantic City Businessman's League wanted to produce a fall beauty pageant in 1921, it was only natural Christy would be selected as judge. Christy served as the chair- man of the judges' panel for the annual event, later known as the Miss America Pageant, and would remain in that role for another three years. At the insistence of Nancy Palmer Christy, Christy's former model and second wife, he abandoned illustra- tion in late 1921 in favor of portrait painting, which he considered far superior. Christy became the preferred painter for presidents, generals, movie stars, socialites, and famous personalities of the era, including Presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Harry S. Truman; aviators Eddie Rickenbacker and Amelia Earhart; humorist Will Rogers; publishing mag- nate William Randolph Hearst; and Allied General Douglas MacArthur. He immortalized Europe's royalty, nobility, and principal leaders, including the Prince of Wales, Benito Mussolini, Prince Phillip of Hesse, and Crown Prince Umberto of Italy. In the Capitol alone, six legislators are memorialized by Christy's brush: in addition to Speaker Rainey, they include Speaker William Bankhead of Alabama (painted in 1937), Rep. (and future vice president) John Nance Garner of Texas (1937), and Representatives Sol Bloom of New York (1936), Henry B. Steagall of Alabama (1942), and Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts (1950). Indeed, the "Barefoot Boy of the Blue Muskingum" had arrived, and America received him as its foremost portraitist. "We the People" On 17 January 1936, while staying at Philadelphia's Bellevue-Strafford Hotel as a guest of the Poor Rich- ard Club, Christy strolled east to Independence Hall just before the club's annual banquet celebrating Benjamin Franklin's 230th birthday. The Hall's doors were closed for the evening, but the guards recognized the artist and permitted him to enter. Upon walking into the half- darkened Assembly Room where the U.S. Constitution 7 Fig. 9. Christy as he appeared in February 1918 THE CAPITOL DOME