On July 4,1986,Americans celebrated the Statue of Liberty's  100th birthday.Parades,speeches,fireworks,and other activities contributed to the great joy of the event.The celebration caused reporters and the 1ocal people to 1ook back a century to the similar great joy that marked the official opening of the statue.The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886,but the story began earlier.The idea for a statue was first suggested at a dinner party by Edouard de Laboulaye, a French historian .A guest at the party was Frederic Bartholdi,a young sculptor. Most people who attended the dinner party soon forgot the idea,but Laboulaye and Bartholdi remembered it.In 187l, Bartholdi came to the United States to interest Americans in a statue that would link France and the United States in friendship.Many people in France had  already been persuaded and contributed money to the project.Americans were also persuaded to build a fund  for the statue.Much of the money came from school children. After the idea had been accepted,Bartholdi set to work. He worked hard for many years.His friend Laboulaye died before the statue was completed.At last,in 1885,the statue was sent to the United States.It had to be shipped in sections and then put together for its weight and size. Ever since then, 1886,the Statue of Liberty has stood as a symbol of freedom to millions of immigrants entering New York Harbor. Bartholdi made his first trip to the United States to talk about the Statue of Liberty in  _  .
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