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RYAN: The town of Clinton, New Jersey is named after a political figure. Not President Bill Clinton, not even Brigadier General George Clinton (who also served as the country’s 4th Vice President) But the 19th century Governor of New York - DeWitt Clinton. A man you might have never heard of.
Historian Stephen Jaffee used to work at the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue. And to help us understand who DeWitt Clinton was, he sent my producer Katie on a little mission.
SXF - NYC STREETS
STEPHEN: As I said I worked at the Museum of the City of New York, and if you go to the façade of that building there are two, like, niches, and there are two bronze statues.
KATIE ON SCENE: So I'm here to see the two statues. There's the first one, it's right here.
STEPHEN: One is Alexander Hamilton…
KATIE ON SCENE: Pretty handsome guy. Honestly, even for a bronze statue.
STEPHEN: I mean, the thing about Hamilton, apart from the fact that, you know, a big hit sexy musical was done about him is that he really was the mastermind of the federal government's financial structure and one of the major architects of the rise of the banking system in the country.
KATIE ON SCENE: Okay, I'm going to walk to the other side to see if I can find the other guy. Here he is…
STEPHEN: …and the other is DeWitt Clinton.
KATIE:. …DeWitt Clinton. 1769 to 1828.
STEPHEN: And I mean, once the musical started, we had people, like, coming up and doing stuff with this statue, of Hamilton that is, and people are kind of like, oh, who's this guy over here, you know?
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