The French have been the subject of many jokes about military surrender and have even been called “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” The French gave New York City the Statue of Liberty, and there’s a riddle:

Q: Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France?
A: Because she has only one arm raised.

The joke has been cited in print since at least 2003.

“Why did the Statue of Liberty take karate?”/"She wanted to be the first French person to be able to defend herself!” is a similar riddle.


Wikipedia: Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, was built by Gustave Eiffel and dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.

Google Books
Let’s Make Fun of the French
Edited by Ima Merakun
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC
2003
Pg. 155:
Q: Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France?
A: Because she has only one arm raised.

Google Groups: alt.os.windows-xp
can’t update with servicepack - help!!
relic
7/14/03
(...)
Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France? Because she has only one arm raised.

Google Groups: alt.america
France .......and more (or less)
Hü©k Hö§hïmötö
10/9/03
Q:  Why would’t the Statue Of Liberty work in France?
A:  Because she has only ONE arm raised!!!

13 March 2009, Daily Mail (London, UK), “What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up? THE ARMY!: As France rejoins NATO, a reminder of why we never missed them” by Marcus Dunk, pg. 15:
Why did the French give America the Statue of Liberty?
Because she has only one arm raised.

Twitter
らくすけ
‏@luck_suke
また降参ネタかｗｗｗ ちょっとヘタレ１号機と比較したくなってきた。「Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France? Because she has only one arm raised.」
3:22 AM - 8 May 2010

Google Books
Jokes for Blokes:
The Ultimate Book of Jokes (Not Suitable for Mixed Company)
By Llewellyn Dowd and Phil McCracken
London: Ebury Press
2011
Pg. 261:
Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France? Because she has only one arm raised

Twitter
FafanMp
‏@fafanmp10
Why wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France? Because she has only one arm raised.
6:47 PM - 26 Sep 2011

Twitter
Josh Hood
‏@JtrainHood
why did the French give us the Statue of Liberty?  Because they couldn’t use it, only one arm was in the air #frenchjokes
9:44 PM - 28 Jun 2012