His first brush with fame came in 1938 when his statue "Abraham Lincoln, Rail Fence Mender," cast in plaster, appeared at the 1939–1940 World's Fair, only to be abruptly removed and destroyed at the behest of an official who found the sculpture offensive. With the help of many of his friends in the art world, a bronze version of the plaster original was permanently placed in the Headquarters Building of the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. Another plaster version resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.