Mount Rushmore's Presidents
Every American Should Visit Mount Rushmore at Least Once in a Lifetime to Discover the Meaning Behind the Sculptures
History of Mount Rushmore
The 5,725-foot Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota was named in 1915 for a prominent New York attorney, Charles E. Rushmore. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, several historians wanted giant, carved sculptures somewhere in the United States to attract sightseers.
Who sculpted Mount Rushmore?
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was born in Idaho in 1867 to Danish Mormons. He studied art in Paris with famed sculptor Auguste Rodin, and earned modest fame for remodeling the torch for the Statue of Liberty, saints and apostles for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, a sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln in Newark, New Jersey, and an oversized Lincoln bust for the U.S. Capitol. By 1915, he carved a Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain in Georgia, which brought him experience in large-scale granite sculpture.
Mount Rushmore was chosen over other hopeful sites by Borglum to commemorate a formal rendering of our Nation's philosophy of foundation, preservation, and continental expansion in exposed granite, and would face southeast to receive direct sunlight for most of the day. Borglum even envisioned a Hall of Records behind the granite figures to preserve national documents and artifacts. It was never completed because Congress halted the project.
Dedication of Mount Rushmore
Beginning in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated this site to begin this lofty task. which was completed in October 1941, shortly before our Nation entered World War II. The head of George Washington was dedicated in 1930; Jefferson in 1936; Lincoln in 1937; and, Roosevelt in 1939.
What is the scale of Mount Rushmore?
A ratio of 1:12 was used, meaning one inch on Borglum's facial models would equal one foot on the granite mountain. To appreciate the scale used, each of Washington's eyes measured 11-feet wide; his nose was 21-feet long; and, his mouth was 18-feet wide.Each face measured 60-feet tall. It took 400 workers, using dynamite, jackhammers, steel drill bits and wedges to accomplish such a marvel! One major change Borglum made was to relocate Jefferson's head from Washington's right to left side since there was not enough granite to complete the face. Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, just seven months before completion, but his son, Lincoln Borglum, supervised its completion.
Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln contributed so much to our great Nation. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum saw these four leaders as instrumental in bringing our Nation from colonial times into the 20th Century.
George Washington characterized the birth of our Nation as commander of the Revolutionary Army, and first president of the United States (1789-1797).
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, masterminded the expansion of our United States through the Louisiana Purchase, and served as our third President (1801-1809).
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the U.S. (1861-1865), preserved our Nation during the Civil War by restoring the Union, and ended slavery.
Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President (1901-1909), promoted development (i.e. Panama Canal) and conservation of our Nation's natural wonders.
To see the Mount Rushmore National Memorial so enormously characterized in granite is awesome! Witnessing this treasure in person makes any American, young or old, proud!
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