Editing Statue of Liberty (section)

===Early National Park Service years (1933–1982)===
[[File:Liberty 1927.gif|thumb|left|Bedloe's Island in 1927, showing the statue and army buildings. The eleven-pointed walls of [[Fort Wood (New York)|Fort Wood]], which still form the statue's base, are visible.]]In 1933, President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] ordered the statue to be transferred to the National Park Service (NPS). In 1937, the NPS gained jurisdiction over the rest of Bedloe's Island.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=41}} With the Army's departure, the NPS began to transform the island into a park.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=136}} The [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) demolished most of the old buildings, regraded and reseeded the eastern end of the island, and built granite steps for a new public entrance to the statue from its rear. The WPA also carried out restoration work within the statue, temporarily removing the rays from the statue's halo so their rusted supports could be replaced. Rusted cast-iron steps in the pedestal were replaced with new ones made of reinforced concrete;{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=202}} the upper parts of the stairways within the statue were replaced, as well. [[Copper sheathing]] was installed to prevent further damage from rainwater that had been seeping into the pedestal.{{sfn|Harris|1985|p=169}} The statue was closed to the public from May until December 1938.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=202}}

During World War II, the statue remained open to visitors, although it was not illuminated at night due to [[Blackout (wartime)|wartime blackouts]]. It was lit briefly on December 31, 1943, and on [[D-Day]], June 6, 1944, when its lights flashed "dot-dot-dot-dash", the [[Morse code]] for [[V sign#The V campaign and the victory/freedom sign|V, for victory]]. New, powerful lighting was installed in 1944–1945, and beginning on [[V-E Day]], the statue was once again illuminated after sunset. The lighting was for only a few hours each evening, and it was not until 1957 that the statue was illuminated every night, all night.{{sfn|Harris|1985|pp=141–143}} In 1946, the interior of the statue within reach of visitors was coated with a special plastic so that graffiti could be washed away.{{sfn|Harris|1985|p=169}}

In 1956, an [[Act of Congress]] officially renamed Bedloe's Island as Liberty Island, a change advocated by Bartholdi generations earlier. The act also mentioned the efforts to found an [[American Museum of Immigration]] on the island, which backers took as federal approval of the project, though the government was slow to grant funds for it.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|pp=147–148}} Nearby [[Ellis Island]] was made part of the [[Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island|Statue of Liberty National Monument]] by the proclamation of President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Baines Johnson]] in 1965.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=41}} In 1972, the immigration museum in the statue's base was finally opened in a ceremony led by President [[Richard Nixon]]. The museum's backers never provided it with an endowment to secure its future and it closed in 1991 after the opening of an [[Ellis Island Immigration Museum|immigration museum]] on Ellis Island.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=19}}

In 1970, [[Ivy Bottini]] led a demonstration at the statue where she and others from the [[National Organization for Women]]'s New York chapter draped an enormous banner over a railing which read "<small>WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!</small>"<ref name=bare>{{Cite web |url= https://lapride.org/pages07/honorees07.htm |title=Honorees |publisher=Lapride.org |date=January 4, 2007 |access-date=November 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906063337/https://lapride.org/pages07/honorees07.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://feminist.org/research/chronicles/fc1970.html |title=The Feminist Chronicles, 1953–1993 – 1970 – Feminist Majority Foundation |publisher=Feminist.org |access-date=November 6, 2012 |archive-date=October 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012024420/https://www.feminist.org/research/chronicles/fc1970.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Beginning December 26, 1971, 15 [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War]] veterans occupied the statue, flying a US flag upside down from her crown. They left on December 28 following a federal court order.<ref>''1973 World Almanac and Book of Facts'', p. 996.</ref> The statue was also several times taken over briefly by demonstrators who were publicizing causes such as [[Independence movement in Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican independence]], [[United States pro-life movement|opposition to abortion]], and opposition to [[Invasion of Grenada|US intervention in Grenada]]. Demonstrations with the permission of the Park Service included a [[Gay Pride Parade]] rally and the annual [[Baltic states under Soviet rule (1944–91)|Captive Baltic Nations]] rally.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|pp=72–73}}

A powerful new lighting system was installed in advance of the [[American Bicentennial]] in 1976. The statue was the focal point for [[Operation Sail]], a regatta of [[tall ship]]s from all over the world that entered New York Harbor on July 4, 1976, and sailed around Liberty Island.{{sfn|Harris|1985|p=143}} The day concluded with a spectacular display of fireworks near the statue.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=20}}