The latest installment in St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum’s video mailbag series is on a fun part of Missouri politics: the Hall of Famous Missourians.
The hall honors political, cultural, sports and literary figures who made the Show-Me State their home. Each inductee is honored with a bust that’s displayed on the third floor of the Capitol.
The speaker of the Missouri House is responsible for picking Hall of Famous Missourian inductees, with private funds paying for the busts. Recent inductees include entertainers like Bob Barker, business leaders such as Edward Jones, and musicians like Porter Wagoner.
Because House speakers in recent years have been Republicans, GOP politicians like John Ashcroft, Ron Richard, Mel Hancock and Roy Blunt have made it into the hall. That means Democratic political figures like Mel Carnahan, Claire McCaskill, Thomas Eagleton and Bill Clay have yet to be inducted. One exception: Richard inducted former Democratic Gov. Warren Hearnes in 2010.
Rosenbaum posed several questions on social media to get STLPR listeners’ opinions on who should be in the Hall of Famous Missourians, and the result is below:
