PD Editorial: Big ideas

MOUNT RUSHMORE, S.D.

On Aug. 20, 1924, Doane Robinson, historian for the state of South Dakota, fired off a letter to a man working on a large sculpture in Stone Mountain, Ga.

“Dear Mr. Borglum,” he wrote, “In the vicinity of Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota are opportunities for heroic sculpture of unusual character. Would it be possible for you to design and supervise a massive sculpture there?”

Eight days later, he received a reply by Western Union telegram.

“Very much interested in your proposal. Great scheme you have. Hold onto it ... Can get to Black Hills during September."

It was signed by Gutzon Borglum.

Robinson’s idea was beyond ambitious. He envisioned Borglum, know for large-scale granite carvings. transforming some of the spires of the Black Hills into sculptures of famous Western characters such as Wild Bill Cody and Lewis and Clark.

But Borglum, a highly patriotic man, had other ideas. He soon persuaded Robinson and others to allow him to create a showcase for Democracy, a tribute to four of America’s greatest presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Today Mount Rushmore stands as one of the nation’s foremost icons, a traditional Fourth of July image. But at its inception, Borglum’s project was considered a preposterous idea even during an age of extravagance. Many were skeptical. Others were just plain hostile at the destruction of a mountain named for a New York attorney.

But Borglum saw America as a land of big ideas, and he would not back down from this one.

President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the start of drilling in 1927. But with the onset of the Great Depression, Mount Rushmore quickly suffered from financial troubles and multiple work stoppages. It took 14 years to construct, of which only six were invested in actually carving. Most of that time was spent trying to raise money — and political and public support.

Borglum succeeded at both. He persuaded Congress that this was a public works project, one that not only put America to work — 400 workers in total — but inspired the nation to keep faith in itself.

It worked. In the end, Mount Rushmore was built for $1 million, of which 85 percent was federal funding.

The Washington head on Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated in 1930, followed by Jefferson in 1936, Lincoln in 1937 and Roosevelt in 1939.

With each passing year and each unveiling, the project took on new importance to a nation mired in economic trials, and the voices of the critics faded.

“On many occasions, when a new project is presented to you on paper and then, later on, you see the accomplishment, you are disappointed; but it is just the opposite of that in what we are looking at now,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said at the unveiling of the Jefferson head in 1936. “I had seen the photographs, I had seen the drawings and I had talked with those who are responsible for this great work, and yet I had had no conception until about 10 minutes ago not only of its magnitude but of its permanent beauty and of its permanent importance.”

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright noted, “The noble countenances emerge from Rushmore as though the spirit of the mountain heard a human plan and itself became a human countenance.”

In March 1941, Borglum died without seeing his project completed. He had envisioned a sculpture with not just the heads of the four presidents but the upper torsos as well. The task fell to his son, Lincoln Borglum, to bring it as near to completion as possible. But by the end of 1941, with America entering World War II, the work stopped for good. Years passed before the nation finally declared Mount Rushmore complete.

Today, nearly 3 million people a year travel to the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore. It should come as no surprise that the most popular time of year to visit is around the Fourth of July when more than 30,000 people attend the annual fireworks show.

But what many don’t realize, park rangers are quick to point out, is that Mount Rushmore is more than just a monument. It is an American tale of high hopes and ideals, of politics, of dueling egos, of singular triumphs and economic setbacks.

Most of all, it is a story of persistence. Much like the founding of the country it honors.