Committee Close to Funding Memorial for Winant

A committee of politicos, history buffs, and those influenced by art, St. Paul’s School, and the life of former Gov. John Winant, are raising $150,000 for a memorial sculpture to be constructed outside of the state library on Park Street in Concord, across the street from the Statehouse.

On July 29, members of the committee announced a $50,000 donation toward the effort by Matthew Barzun, the ambassador to Great Britain, and his wife, Brooke. The donation, along with a $10,000 gift from St. Paul’s School, and other donations, is helping the committee get closer to its goal. The funding, which is entirely private, will pay for a bronze sculpture and upkeep of the memorial. Money leftover will go to a scholarship fund to assist students attending St. Paul’s AP program.

State Rep. Steve Shurtleff, D-Concord, said the memorial would be a lasting monument to the former Republican governor, who served three non-consecutive terms, and was also a state rep, and state senator. Later in life, Winant was the first director of the Social Security system and the ambassador to Great Britain during World War II. Shurtleff said Democrats, Republicans, and independents have a common link together in the project, “our respect and admiration and gratitude to our former governor … for who he was and for all he did for the people of New Hampshire (and) our country.”

Mike Hirshfeld, the rector of St. Paul’s School, said he first learned about the former governor when he attended a John Winant Society meeting at the school three decades ago. The meeting featured students of all opinions who would meet weekly to talk politics. Hirshfeld said, for a kid like him, with a full scholarship, and from a family that didn’t have a lot of experience with a boarding school environment, it was an eye-opening experience and is reflective, in many ways, of the committee that has come together to honor Winant. He said the donation by the school and his role on the committee was “a real honor to be engaged, in a small way,” in the effort.

Department of Cultural Resources Commissioner Van McLeod said the effort was one of those moments where “something like this comes along and makes everything we do, really worthwhile.”

What Winant did, when looking at New Hampshire and the world at the time, made him “one of the most important figures in world history in the first half of the 20th Century,” he noted.