TR- Why You?

Sometimes your mind wanders when you watch TV. This morning it was during the Gieco commercial which features Mt. Rushmore. That annoying little lizard is walking through a tunnel and wonders if he can see Mt. Rushmore from where he is. Turns out he is standing inside one of the eyes on the monument. The question came to mind, why is Teddy Roosevelt featured? Washington, father of our country, that makes sense. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, third president, contributor to the Constitution. Again he makes sense. Abraham Lincoln, preserved the Union through the Civil War. Quite possibly our greatest president. Teddy Roosevelt? Became president due to assination of McKinley. Elected to the office once. Why are you there Teddy?

We all know what it looks like now. This is Mt. Rushmore before construction began.

The story begins with Doane Robinson. Never heard of him, well that isn't a big surprise. He was the superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society. Mr. Robinson spent a good deal of 1924 asking people to donate time and money to his project and finding a sculptor who would take on the massive project. What was his motivation? Well remarkably times haven't changed much. South Dakota wanted tourists and nobody was going there to visit. In his search of a sculptor he sent a letter to John Gutzon Borglum. Never heard of him either? Mr. Borglum was a famous painter and sculptor. At the time he received the letter he was carving protraits of Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Jefferson Davis into Stone Mountain in Georgia. The Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association was making his life miserable. They kept suggesting changes, and interfering with the work so Mr. Borglum got excited about the idea of working on a larger more national project. In 1925 he destroyed the models he was using for the Stone Mountain project and ran off to South Dakota.

Mr. Robinson had planned on having figures like Buffalo Bill, General Custer or Lewis and Clark carved into the mountain. Mr. Borglum told him that was a small thought from a small mind. He was a charmer wasn't he? He suggested the four presidents named above. The first three for the reasons cited. Roosevelt, well take your pick. The cynical point out the fact that Roosevelt had been a supporter and patron of Borglum. His major work prior to Stone Mountain was a bust of Lincoln that Roosevelt had displayed at the White House. If you are more of an idealist Teddy Roosevelt is a powerful figure in American myth. He was a hero of the Spanish American War, builder of the Panama Canal, explorer, rancher, naturalist, conservator, athlete, a man who helped tame the American west. When Borglum began his work Teddy had been out of office for 17 years and only dead for 10. He was a powerful mythic figure in death much like Ronald Reagan has become in our time.

Work on the project began in 1927 and ended in 1941. The actual carving only lasted six and a half years. The rest of the time was spent raising money. Borglum did none of the actual carving. He created the initial model and then hired teams of drillers and dynamiters to remove rock according to his design. Over 450,000 tons or rock were removed with no workers being killed during the project. Borglum died before the work was completed and his son Lincoln took over. He made only minor refining touches and the project was declared complete seven months later.

So why is TR on Mount Rushmore? The answer to that question is completely up to you. Are you cynical? An idealist? Some of both?

Here are some pictures of the work in progress.