Sept. 27, 1962 - Vandals have defaced the white marble Lincoln Memorial, painting “n****r lover” in foot-high pink letters on the rear wall, the U.S. Park Police reported. The paint has been scrubbed off, officials said today, but specialists will have to be called in to blend the damaged area with the surrounding stone. Deputy Chief Nelson Murdock said the vandals presumably splashed the racial slur on the wall Sunday night or early Monday. No arrests have been made. Last Saturday, the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, was marked with a ceremony on the memorial’s tiers of steps. The memorial is a classic white marble hall enclosing a heroic statue of Lincoln seated in meditation, facing toward the reflecting pool that mirrors the Washington Monument. It was dedicated in May 1922.
