<P> On July 30, 1916, during World War I, German saboteurs set off a disastrous explosion on the Black Tom peninsula in Jersey City, New Jersey, in what is now part of Liberty State Park, close to Bedloe's Island . Carloads of dynamite and other explosives that were being sent to Britain and France for their war efforts were detonated, and seven people were killed . The statue sustained minor damage, mostly to the torch - bearing right arm, and was closed for ten days . The cost to repair the statue and buildings on the island was about US $100,000 (equivalent to $2,200,917 in 2016). The narrow ascent to the torch was closed for public - safety reasons, and it has remained closed ever since . </P> <P> That same year, Ralph Pulitzer, who had succeeded his father Joseph as publisher of the World, began a drive to raise US $30,000 (equivalent to $660,275 in 2016) for an exterior lighting system to illuminate the statue at night . He claimed over 80,000 contributors, but failed to reach the goal . The difference was quietly made up by a gift from a wealthy donor--a fact that was not revealed until 1936 . An underwater power cable brought electricity from the mainland and floodlights were placed along the walls of Fort Wood . Gutzon Borglum, who later sculpted Mount Rushmore, redesigned the torch, replacing much of the original copper with stained glass . On December 2, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson pressed the telegraph key that turned on the lights, successfully illuminating the statue . </P> <P> After the United States entered World War I in 1917, images of the statue were heavily used in both recruitment posters and the Liberty Bond drives that urged American citizens to support the war financially . This impressed upon the public the war's stated purpose--to secure liberty--and served as a reminder that embattled France had given the United States the statue . </P> <P> In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the statue a National Monument . The only successful suicide in the statue's history occurred five years later, when a man climbed out of one of the windows in the crown and jumped to his death, glancing off the statue's breast and landing on the base . </P>

Who is the statue of liberty based off of