Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills ({{Lang|lkt|Pahá Sápa}}) are considered sacred by Plains Indians such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux, who used the area for centuries as a place to pray and gather food, building materials, and medicine.{{Cite news |first=Amy |last=McKeever |date=October 28, 2020 |title=South Dakota's Mount Rushmore has a strange, scandalous history |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/the-strange-and-controversial-history-of-mount-rushmore |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223233517/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/the-strange-and-controversial-history-of-mount-rushmore |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 23, 2021 |access-date=February 24, 2023 |work=National Geographic |language=en}}

The Lakota called the mountain "Six Grandfathers" ({{Lang|lkt|Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe}}),{{Cite book |last=Harmanşah |first=Ömür |chapter=Six Grandfathers: Landscapes and Power |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0U22BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 |title=Place, Memory, and Healing: An Archaeology of Anatolian Rock Monuments |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-57571-9 |doi=10.4324/9781315739106 |page=16 |language=en}} symbolizing ancestral deities personified as the six directions: north, south, east, west, above (sky), and below (earth).{{Cite journal |last=Morton |first=Mary Caperton |date=September 3, 2020 |title=Mount Rushmore's Six Grandfathers and Four Presidents |url=http://eos.org/features/mount-rushmores-six-grandfathers-and-four-presidents |access-date=February 24, 2023 |journal=Eos |volume=101 |doi=10.1029/2020eo148456 |language=en-US|doi-access=free |issn = 0096-3941 }}

In the latter half of the 19th century, expansion by the United States into the Black Hills led to the Sioux Wars. In the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government granted exclusive use of all of the Black Hills, including Six Grandfathers, to the Sioux in perpetuity.{{r|McKeever|Morton}}

Six Grandfathers was a significant part of the spiritual journey taken in the early 1870s by Lakota leader Black Elk ({{Lang|lkt|Heȟáka Sápa}}, also known as "The Sixth Grandfather"){{Cite book |last=Neihardt |first=John Gneisenau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXElCJTANaoC&pg=PP1 |title=The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt |date=1985 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6564-6 |language=en}} that culminated at the nearby Black Elk Peak ({{Lang|lkt|Hiŋháŋ Káǧa}}, "Making of Owls").{{Cite book |last=Saum |first=Bradley |title=Black Elk Peak: A History |date=2017 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-6050-8 |language=en |chapter=Black Elk |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEDFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT22}}{{Cite book |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEDFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT5 |last=Saum |first=Bradley |title=Black Elk Peak: A History |date=2017 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-6050-8 |language=en}} U.S. general George Armstrong Custer summited Black Elk Peak a few years later in 1874 during the Black Hills Expedition, which triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War of 1876.{{Cite book |chapter=Custer |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEDFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 |last=Saum |first=Bradley |title=Black Elk Peak: A History |date=2017 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-6050-8 |language=en}}

In 1877, the U.S. broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and asserted control over the area, leading to an influx of settlers and prospectors.{{r|McKeever|Morton}}

Among those prospectors was New York mining promoter James Wilson, who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company, and hired New York attorney Charles E. Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the company's land claims. During a visit in 1884{{r|McKeever}}{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=William |page=14 |title=Mount Rushmore |date=2010 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishing |isbn=978-1-60413-515-2 |language=en}} or 1885,{{Cite news |date=March 2, 2006 |title=BBC will showcase story of 'Piano Man' |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2006/03/02/bbc-will-showcase-story-of-piano-man/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |work=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Koestler-Grack |first=Rachel A. |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQYzMpzk2GAC&pg=PA18 |title=Mount Rushmore |publisher=Abdo Publishing |isbn=978-1-61714-362-5 |page=18 |language=en}}

Rushmore saw Six Grandfathers and asked his guide, Bill Challis, the mountain's name; Challis replied that the mountain did not have a name, but that it would henceforth be named after Rushmore.{{r|Saum-Mountain|Morton}}

The name "Mount Rushmore" continued to be used locally, and was officially recognized by the United States Board of Geographic Names in June 1930.{{r|Saum-Mountain|Morton}}

File:Mount Rushmore distant view.jpg

By the 1920s, South Dakota had become a U.S. state, and was a popular destination for road trippers visiting the Black Hills National Forest, Wind Cave National Park, and Needles Highway.

In 1923,{{Cite journal |last=Fite |first=Gilbert C. |author-link=Gilbert Fite |date=1975 |title=Gutzon Borglum: Mercurial Master of Colossal Art |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4517975 |journal=Montana: The Magazine of Western History |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=2–19 |jstor=4517975 |issn=0026-9891}}{{Cite web |date=November 29, 2022 |title=Timeline – Mount Rushmore National Memorial |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/doane-robinson.htm |access-date=March 2, 2023 |website=National Park Service |language=en}} the Secretary of the South Dakota State Historical Society, Doane Robinson, who would come to be known as the "Father of Mount Rushmore",{{Cite web |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Doane Robinson |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/doane-robinson.htm |access-date=March 2, 2023 |website=National Park Service |language=en}} learned about the "Shrine to the Confederacy", a project to carve the likenesses of Confederate generals into the side of Stone Mountain, Georgia, that had been underway since 1915.

Seeking to boost tourism to South Dakota, Robinson began promoting the idea of a similar monument in the Black Hills, representing "not only the wild grandeur of its local geography but also the triumph of western civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation."{{Cite journal |last=Boime |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Boime |title=Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum's 'Mount Rushmore' |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/424112 |journal=American Art |volume=5 |issue=1/2 |date=Winter–Spring 1991 |doi=10.1086/424112 |pages=142–67 |s2cid=191573145 |access-date=September 15, 2020|url-access=subscription }}

Robinson initially approached sculptor Lorado Taft, but Taft was ill at the time and uninterested in Robinson's project. Robinson next sought the help of then-U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck, who had established Custer State Park when he was Governor in 1919. Norbeck cautiously supported Robinson's plan, and Robinson began campaigning for it publicly. Some in the local community also supported Robinson's plan, but many opposed it vigorously.

On August 20, 1924, Robinson wrote to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of "Shrine to the Confederacy", asking him to travel to the Black Hills region to determine whether the carving could be accomplished.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010135902/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/carving_history.htm |title=Carving History |date=August 2, 2004 |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/carving_history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2006 }}

Borglum, who had involved himself with the Ku Klux Klan, one of the Stone Mountain memorial's funders, had been having disagreements with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, and on September 24, 1924, travelled to South Dakota to meet Robinson.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHelDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22September+24,+1924%22+borglum&pg=PT114 |author=Michael Patrick Cullinane |title=Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon |publisher=LSU Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8071-6674-1 |access-date=January 11, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/peopleevents/e_stonemtn.html|title=People & Events: The Carving of Stone Mountain|work=American Experience|publisher=PBS|access-date=March 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413223326/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/peopleevents/e_stonemtn.html|archive-date=April 13, 2010|url-status=dead}}

Borglum's original plan was to make the carvings in {{convert|490|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} granite pillars known as "The Needles" ({{Lang|lkt|Hiŋháŋ Káǧa}}). However, the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. Also, some in the Black Hills such as Cora Babbitt Johnson, protested against carving the Needles on environmental and religious grounds. On August 14, 1925, Borglum summitted Black Elk Peak while scouting alternative locations,{{Cite book |last=Saum |first=Bradley |title=Black Elk Peak: A History |date=2017 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-6050-8 |language=en |chapter=Mountain Monument |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEDFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT38}} and reportedly said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will march along that skyline." He chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to sunlight.

Borglum rejected Robinson's original plan of depicting characters from the Old West, such as Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud, Sacagawea, John C. Fremont, and Crazy Horse, and instead decided to depict four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.{{r|Morton|McKeever|Fite}}

The four presidential faces were said to be carved into the granite with the intention of symbolizing "an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans".

The Lakota and other local indigenous communities objected to the overall plan as constituting desecration of their sacred lands, and to the racist and sometimes violent anti-indigenous policies of the four presidents depicted.

For the Lakota and other tribes, the monument "came to epitomize the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they've suffered under the U.S. government."{{cite web |title=Native Americans and Mount Rushmore |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rushmore-sioux/|website=PBS |access-date=March 26, 2020}}

Senator Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 for permission to use federal land,{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/historical-letters-and-legislation.htm |title=Historical Letters and Legislation |date=May 23, 2022 |website=National Park Service |access-date=December 14, 2022 }} which passed easily. South Dakota legislation had less support, only passing narrowly on its third attempt, which Governor Carl Gunderson signed into law on March 5, 1925. Private funding came slowly and Borglum invited President Calvin Coolidge to an August 1927 dedication ceremony, at which he promised federal funding. Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act, signed by Coolidge, which authorized up to $250,000 in matching funds. The 1929 presidential transition to Herbert Hoover delayed funding until an initial federal match of $54,670.56 was acquired.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/memorial-history.htm |title=Memorial History |date=May 23, 2022 |website=National Park Service |access-date=December 14, 2022 }}

Carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/moru/faqs.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121214005005/http://www.nps.gov/moru/faqs.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2012 |title=Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 2, 2009}}[http://www.outdoorplaces.com/Destination/USNP/sdmtrsh/index.htm Mount Rushmore National Memorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513050856/http://www.outdoorplaces.com/Destination/USNP/sdmtrsh/index.htm |date=May 13, 2010 }}. Outdoorplaces.com. Retrieved June 7, 2006.

Six Grandfathers.jpg|Mount Rushmore (Six Grandfathers) before construction, {{circa|1905}}

Mount Rushmore proposal reported in The Chicago Tribune November 28, 1926 (1).jpg|Early model of the design

RushmoreWithLeftJefferson.jpg|Construction underway, with Jefferson leftmost, before unstable rock necessitated a design change

Gutzon Borglum's model of Mt. Rushmore memorial.jpg|Original mockup of the Mount Rushmore sculpture "before funding ran out"{{cite web |title=Rare Photos From The Past |url=http://autooverload.com/unexplainable-rare-photos-from-the-past-2/5/ |page=5 |quote=1941, the original mockup of Mt. Rushmore before funding ran out |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119001549/http://autooverload.com/unexplainable-rare-photos-from-the-past-2/5/ |archive-date=January 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |access-date=September 18, 2019}}

Mount Rushmore2.jpg|Construction of George Washington's likeness

Mount Rushmore Closeup 2017.jpg|Closeup view of final sculptures

{{See also|Construction of Mount Rushmore}}

Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/carving-history.htm |title=Carving History |access-date=February 22, 2013 |publisher=National Park Service }} sculpted the colossal {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} carvings of United States Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory. The carving of Mount Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of "honeycombing", where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by hand.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/workers.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801031839/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/workers.htm|archive-date=August 1, 2008|title=Honeycombing process explained from|publisher=nps.gov|date=June 14, 2004|access-date=March 20, 2010|url-status=dead}} In total, about {{convert|450,000|ST|MT}} of rock were blasted off the mountainside.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm|title=Geology Fieldnotes|publisher=nps.gov|date=January 4, 2005|access-date=October 22, 2010|archive-date=October 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016233647/http://nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/moru/|url-status=live}} The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear in the area at Washington's right, but after the work there was begun, the rock was found to be unsuitable, so the work on Jefferson's figure was dynamited, and a new figure was sculpted to Washington's left.

File:Mount Rushmore Workers.jpg

The chief carver of the mountain was Luigi Del Bianco, an artisan and stonemason who emigrated to the U.S. from Friuli in Italy and was chosen to work on this project because of his understanding of sculptural language and ability to imbue emotion in the carved portraits.

The national monument is in an unincorporated area in Pennington County, adjacent to the town of Keystone.{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/DC20BLK/st46_sd/county/c46103_pennington/DC20BLK_C46103.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Pennington County, SD|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|page=56 (PDF p. 57/86)|access-date=2024-09-27|quote=Mount Rushmore Natl Meml}}

In 1933, the National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he had the tram upgraded so it could reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers. By July 4, 1934, Washington's face had been completed and was dedicated. The face of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated in 1936, and Abraham Lincoln's on September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civil-rights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time.[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/timeline/timeline2.html American Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114191216/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/timeline/timeline2.html |date=November 14, 2012 }} "Timeline: Mount Rushmore" (2002). Retrieved March 20, 2006. In 1939, the face of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29999525/the_atlanta_constitution/|title=Remember Stone Mountain's Mighty Memorial?|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution|location=Atlanta, Georgia|date=July 7, 1939|page=9|via=Newspapers.com|last1=Cope|first1=Willard}}

The Sculptor's Studio – a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the sculpting – was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum died from an embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist,[http://www.engineeringsights.org/SightDetail.asp?Sightid=526&id=SD&view=s&name=South+Dakota&page=1&image=0 Mount Rushmore National Memorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203033407/http://www.engineeringsights.org/SightDetail.asp?Sightid=526&id=SD&view=s&name=South+Dakota&page=1&image=0 |date=December 3, 2013 }}. but insufficient funding forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase commemorating in {{convert|8|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall|spell=in}} gilded letters the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial acquisitions from the Alaska purchase to the Panama Canal Zone. In total, the entire project cost US$989,992.32 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|989,992.32|1941}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}).[http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/students/Ahmann/rushmore.html Mount Rushmore National Memorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060224003931/http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/students/Ahmann/rushmore.html |date=February 24, 2006 }}. Tourism in South Dakota. Laura R. Ahmann. Retrieved March 19, 2006.

Nick Clifford, the last remaining carver, died in November 2019 at age 98.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Last-carver-of-Mount-Rushmore-dies-at-98-565388721.html|title=Last carver of Mount Rushmore dies at 98|date=November 23, 2019|first=Nick|last=Reagan|website=www.kotatv.com|access-date=November 26, 2019}}

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Harold Spitznagel and Cecil Doty designed the original visitor center, finished in 1957, as part of the Mission 66 effort to improve visitors' facilities at national parks and monuments across the country.{{cite journal |last=Lathrop |first=Alan K. |date=Winter 2007 |title=Designing for South Dakota and the Upper Midwest: The Career of Architect Harold T. Spitznagel, 1930—1974 |url=https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-37-4/designing-for-south-dakota-and-the-upper-midwest-the-career-of-architect-harold-t-spitznagel-1930-1974/vol-37-no-4-designing-for-south-dakota-and-the-upper-midwest.pdf |journal=South Dakota History |volume=37 |pages=271–305 |number=4}}{{Cite web|url=https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/465700|title=Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of a Building Type|last=Allaback|first=Sarah|date=2000|website=National Park Service}} Ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of extensive visitor facilities and sidewalks in 1998, such as a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum, and the Presidential Trail.

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A 500-word essay giving the history of the United States by Nebraska student William Andrew Burkett was selected as the college-age group winner in a 1934 competition, and that essay was placed on the Entablature on a bronze plate in 1973.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/upload/THE-BURKETT-PLAQUE.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319191839/http://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/upload/THE-BURKETT-PLAQUE.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 19, 2015|title=Text of 1934 Essay – History of the United States|access-date=August 27, 2017}} In 1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29656|title=George Bush: Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota|date=July 3, 1991|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=August 27, 2017}}

In 2004, Gerard Baker was appointed superintendent of the park, the first and so far only Native American in that role. Baker stated that he will open up more "avenues of interpretation", and that the four presidents are "only one avenue and only one focus."{{cite web |author=David Melmer |date=December 13, 2004 |title=Historic changes for Mount Rushmore |url=http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28172949.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808193845/http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28172949.html |archive-date=August 8, 2010 |access-date=March 17, 2010 |work=Indiancountrytoday}}

In 1937, when the sculpture was not yet complete, a bill in Congress supporting the addition of women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony failed. When the sculpture was completed in 1941, the sculptors said that the remaining rock was not suitable for additional carvings. This stance was shared by RESPEC, an engineering firm charged with monitoring the stability of the rock in 1989. Proposals of additional sculptures include John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, and Ronald Reagan in 1985 and 1999 – the latter proposal receiving a debate in Congress at the time.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/288213.stm |title=World: Americas Reagan for Rushmore |date=March 1, 1999 |publisher=BBC |access-date=November 25, 2020 }} Barack Obama was asked about his own potential addition in 2008 and he joked that his ears were too large.{{cite news |url=https://eu.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/06/26/south-dakota-mount-rushmore-national-memorial-national-park-service-can-add-face/3243967001/ |title=Adding fifth face to Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been political football for decades |date=June 26, 2020 |newspaper=Argus Leader |publisher=USA Today Network |first=Tom |last=Lawrence |access-date=November 25, 2020 }}

Donald Trump has on occasion expressed interest in his own addition to the mountain. During a 2017 rally in Ohio, Trump said, "I'd ask whether or not you some day think I will be on Mount Rushmore{{nbsp}}... If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, 'He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore.' So I won't say it."{{cite news |last1=Shelbourne |first1=Mallory |title=Trump: 'I won't say' that I should be on Mount Rushmore |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/343786-trump-i-wont-say-that-i-should-be-on-mount-rushmore/ |access-date=June 30, 2024 |work=The Hill |date=July 25, 2017}} South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, described the potential addition as Trump's "dream" in 2018.{{Cite web|last= Ehrlich |first=Jamie|title=New York Times: White House reached out to South Dakota governor about adding Trump to Mount Rushmore |date=August 9, 2020 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/politics/mount-rushmore-trump-south-dakota/index.html|access-date=August 10, 2020|publisher=CNN}} On January 28, 2025, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced a bill, H.R. 792, in the House of Representatives to add Trump's likeness to the monument.{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/792|title=H.R.792 – To direct the Secretary of the Interior to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on Mount Rushmore National Memorial|publisher=U.S. Congress|access-date=February 5, 2025|date=January 28, 2025}}

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an August 2024 interview that President Joe Biden is a “Mount Rushmore kind of president” and stated his likeness should be added to the monument.{{cite news |last=Notheis |first=Asher |date=August 4, 2024 |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3110243/pelosi-biden-face-added-mount-rushmore |access-date=August 5, 2024 |title=Pelosi says Biden's face should be added to Mount Rushmore |work=Washington Examiner}}

Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top tourist attraction.{{cite web |url=http://www.southdakota.com/most-popular-attractions/ |title=Popular South Dakota Attractions >>South Dakota |publisher=southdakota.com |access-date=March 21, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131057/http://www.southdakota.com/most-popular-attractions/ |url-status=dead }} 2,185,447 people visited the park in 2012.

The popularity of the location, as with many other national monuments, derives from its immediate recognizability; "there are no substitutes for iconic resources such as the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, or Mount Rushmore. These locations are one of a kind places".Thomas J. Liu, John B. Loomis, and Linda J. Bilmes, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=rgiiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT88 Exploring the contribution of National Parks to the entertainment industry's intellectual property]", in Linda J. Bilmes and John B. Loomis, Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs: America's Best Investment (Routledge, 2020), [https://books.google.com/books?id=RT33DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95–98]. However, Mount Rushmore also provides access to a surrounding environment of wilderness, which distinguishes it from the typical proximity of national monuments to urban centers like Washington, D.C., and New York City.

In the 1950s and 1960s, local Lakota Sioux elder Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk, who had been present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn) was known as the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing for photographs with thousands of tourists daily in his native attire. The South Dakota State Historical Society notes that he was one of the most photographed people in the world over that 20-year period.{{cite book | title = Dakota Images: Benjamin Black Elk | publisher = South Dakota State Historical Society | year = 1984 | volume = 14 | number = 1 | last = Kilen Ode | first = Jeanne | url =http://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-14-1/dakota-images-benjamin-black-elk/vol-14-no-1-dakota-images-benjamin-black-elk.pdf }}

File:Borglum biography panel for the Hall of Records at Mt Rushmore.jpg

Borglum originally envisioned a grand Hall of Records where America's greatest historical documents and artifacts could be protected and shown to tourists. He managed to start the project, but cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock before work stopped in 1939 to focus on the faces. In 1998, a repository was constructed inside the mouth of the cave housing 16 enamel panels with biographical and historical information about Mount Rushmore as well as the texts of the documents Borglum wanted to preserve there. The repository consists of a teakwood box inside of a titanium vault placed in the ground with a granite capstone.{{cite web|title=Hall of Records|work=Mount Rushmore National Memorial web site|publisher=National Park Service|date=June 14, 2004|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/hall_of_records.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011230039/http://nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/carving_hist/hall_of_records.htm|archive-date=October 11, 2007|access-date=July 4, 2007|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/hall-of-records.htm|title=Hall of Records |work=Mount Rushmore National Memorial |publisher=U.S. National Park Service|access-date=22 September 2024 }}

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The ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the National Park Service.{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/moru/naturescience/upload/rock%20block%20display%20true%20size-2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513223756/http://www.nps.gov/moru/naturescience/upload/rock%20block%20display%20true%20size-2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 13, 2009 |title=Caring for a Monumental Sculpture |access-date=July 8, 2013 |publisher=National Park Service}} Maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to monitor and seal cracks annually.{{cite web | title=Preservation | website=Mount Rushmore National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) | date=January 30, 2023 | url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/preservation.htm | access-date=March 24, 2023}} Due to budget constraints, the memorial is not regularly cleaned to remove lichens. However, in 2005 Alfred Kärcher, a German manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, conducted a free cleanup operation which lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over {{convert|200|F|C}}.{{cite news |date=July 11, 2005 |title=For Mount Rushmore, An Overdue Face Wash |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/10/AR2005071000754.html |access-date=March 17, 2010}} Other efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied originally to cracks in the stone by Gutzon Borglum, which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance. The components of Borglum's sealant included linseed oil, granite dust, and white lead, but a modern silicone replacement for the cracks is now used, disguised with granite dust.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/preservation.htm |title=Preservation – Mount Rushmore National Memorial |access-date=December 26, 2020 |publisher=National Park Service}}

In 1998, electronic monitoring devices were installed to track movement in the topology of the sculpture to an accuracy of {{convert|0.12|in|mm|0}}. The site was digitally recorded in 2009 using a terrestrial laser scanning method as part of the international Scottish Ten project, providing a high-resolution record to aid the conservation of the site. This data was made publicly accessible online.{{cite web |url=http://archive.cyark.org/mount-rushmore-national-memorial-intro |title=Mount Rushmore National Memorial |access-date=July 8, 2013 |publisher=CyArk |archive-date=July 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130712021611/http://archive.cyark.org/mount-rushmore-national-memorial-intro |url-status=dead }}

File:Black Hills, Mount Rushmore National Park.jpg opposite Mount Rushmore]]

The flora and fauna of Mount Rushmore are similar to those of the rest of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Birds including the turkey vulture, golden eagle, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, swallows and white-throated swifts fly around Mount Rushmore and nest in the ledges of the mountain. Smaller birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, woodpeckers and flycatchers inhabit the surrounding pine forests. Terrestrial mammals include the mouse, least chipmunk, red squirrel, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, beaver, badger, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, elk, mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, and American bison.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/moru/naturescience/upload/wildlife%20safety%20correct%20size-2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513223810/http://www.nps.gov/moru/naturescience/upload/wildlife%20safety%20correct%20size-2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 13, 2009|title=Enjoy Wildlife......Safely.|website=National Park Service|access-date=January 4, 2014}}{{cite news|last=Freeman|first=Mary|title=Mount Rushmore, South Dakota for Tourists|url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/mount-rushmore-south-dakota-tourists-12916.html|newspaper=USA Today|location=Tysons Corner, VA |publisher=Gannett Company|access-date=January 3, 2014}} The striped chorus frog, western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area,{{cite web |url=https://home.nps.gov/moru/learn/nature/amphibians.htm|title=Amphibians|author=|website=National Park Service|access-date=January 4, 2014}} along with several species of snake. Grizzly Bear Brook and Starling Basin Brook, the two streams in the memorial, support fish such as the longnose dace and the brook trout.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} Mountain goats are not indigenous to the region. Those living near Mount Rushmore are descendants of a herd that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/nature/animals.htm|title=Nature & Science- Animals|date=November 26, 2006|work=NPS |access-date=March 17, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/ru/flora/index.html|title=Mount Rushmore- Flora and Fauna|publisher=American Park Network|access-date=January 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212031013/http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/ru/flora/index.html|archive-date=December 12, 2007|year=2001|url-status=dead}}

At lower elevations, coniferous trees, mainly the ponderosa pine, surround most of the monument. Other trees include the bur oak, the Black Hills spruce, and the cottonwood. Nine species of shrubs grow near Mount Rushmore. There is also a wide variety of wildflowers, including especially the snapdragon, sunflower, and violet. Towards higher elevations, plant life becomes sparser. However, only approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to the region.{{cite web|url=https://home.nps.gov/moru/learn/nature/plants.htm|title=Nature & Science – Plants |date=December 6, 2006|work=NPS|access-date=March 17, 2010}}

The area receives about {{convert|18|in|mm}} of precipitation on average per year, enough to support abundant animal and plant life. Trees and other plants help to control surface runoff. Dikes, seeps, and springs help to dam up water that is flowing downhill, providing watering spots for animals. In addition, stones like sandstone and limestone help to hold groundwater, creating aquifers.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312115239/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/pphtml/subnaturalfeatures25.html Nature & Science- Groundwater]. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.

A 2016 investigation by the U.S. Geological Survey found unusually high concentrations of perchlorate in the surface water and groundwater of the area.{{cite web |title=Fireworks Likely Caused Water Contamination at Mount Rushmore |url=https://www.usgs.gov/news/fireworks-likely-caused-water-contamination-mount-rushmore |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=June 27, 2020 |date=May 2, 2016}} A sample collected from a stream had a maximum perchlorate concentration of 54 micrograms per liter, roughly 270 times higher than samples taken from locations outside the area.{{cite news |title=Mt. Rushmore H2O pollution: Fireworks to blame? |url=https://www.nbc26.com/news/national/fireworks-likely-source-of-mount-rushmore-water-pollution |work=WGBA |agency=Associated Press |date=May 3, 2016 |language=en}} The report concluded the probable cause of the contamination was the aerial fireworks displays that had taken place on Independence Days from 1998 to 2009.{{cite news |last1=Fears |first1=Darryl |title=Officials knew fireworks at Mount Rushmore could cause a fire. But they didn't expect this. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/03/officials-knew-fireworks-at-mount-rushmore-could-cause-a-fire-but-they-didnt-expect-this/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 3, 2016 |language=en}} The National Park Service also reported that at least 27 forest fires around Mount Rushmore in that same period (1998 to 2009) have been caused by fireworks displays.{{Cite web|last1=O'Dowd|first1=Peter|last2=Raphelson|first2=Samantha|date=July 3, 2020|title=50 Years After Mount Rushmore Occupation, Native Americans Are 'Still Fighting'|url=https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/03/native-americans-mount-rushmore-protest|access-date=April 4, 2021|website=WBUR|language=en}}

A study of the fire scars present in tree ring samples indicates that forest fires occur in the ponderosa forests surrounding Mount Rushmore around every 27 years. Large fires are not common. Most events have been ground fires that serve to clear forest debris.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312115249/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/pphtml/subnaturalfeatures32.html Nature & Science- Forests]. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006. The area is a climax community with an equilibrium such that a pine beetle infestation would threaten the forest.

Mount Rushmore is largely composed of granite. The memorial is carved on the northwest margin of the Black Elk Peak granite batholith in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the geologic formations of the heart of the Black Hills region are also evident at Mount Rushmore. The batholith magma intruded into the pre-existing mica schist rocks during the Proterozoic, 1.6 billion years ago.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080616091103/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/pphtml/subenvironmentalfactors13.html Geologic Activity]. National Park Service. Coarse grained pegmatite dikes are associated with the granite intrusion of Black Elk Peak and are visibly lighter in color, thus explaining the light-colored streaks on the foreheads of the presidents.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The Black Hills granites were exposed to erosion during the Neoproterozoic, but were later buried by sandstone and other sediments during the Cambrian. Remaining buried throughout the Paleozoic, they were re-exposed again during the Laramide orogeny around 70 million years ago. The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome.Irvin, James R. [http://www.holoscenes.com/gallery5.html Great Plains Gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720043247/http://www.holoscenes.com/gallery5.html |date=July 20, 2006 }} (2001). Retrieved March 16, 2006. Subsequent erosion stripped the granite of the overlying sediments and the softer adjacent schist. Some schist does remain and can be seen as the darker material just below the sculpture of Washington.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The tallest mountain in the region is Black Elk Peak ({{convert|7,242|ft|m|disp=or|abbr=on}}). Borglum selected Mount Rushmore as the site for several reasons. The rock of the mountain is composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only {{convert|1|in|mm}} every 10,000 years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its long-term exposure. The mountain's height of {{convert|5725|ft|m}} above sea level made it suitable, and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight for most of the day.

It is not possible to add another president to the memorial, because the rock that surrounds the existing faces is not suitable for additional carving,{{Cite web|last=Klinski|first=Michael|date=April 24, 2018|title=Mount Trumpmore? It's the president's 'dream,' Rep. Kristi Noem says|url=https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2018/04/24/president-donald-trump-mount-rushmore-trumpmore/544597002/|access-date=August 9, 2020|website=Argus Leader|language=en-US}} and because additional sculpting could create instabilities in the existing carvings.

The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by well drained alfisol soils of very gravelly loam (Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture, brown to dark grayish brown.{{cite web|url=http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/|title=SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey|publisher=University of California, Davis|access-date=August 27, 2017}}

Mount Rushmore has a dry-winter humid continental climate (Dwb in the Köppen climate classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than {{convert|-20|F}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php?img=nwusa |title=USDA Hardiness Zone Finder |author= |website=The National Gardening Association |publisher=National Gardening Association |access-date=January 3, 2014}}

The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706092640/http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/travel_info/weather_hist.htm|title=Weather History|access-date=January 27, 2013|publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior|archive-date=July 6, 2008|date=June 23, 2004|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/travel_info/weather_hist.htm|url-status=dead}}

{{clear left}}

{{Weather box

|single line = y

|location = Mount Rushmore National Memorial (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1962–present)

|Jan record high F = 70

|Feb record high F = 68

|Mar record high F = 78

|Apr record high F = 85

|May record high F = 93

|Jun record high F = 99

|Jul record high F = 100

|Aug record high F = 99

|Sep record high F = 97

|Oct record high F = 86

|Nov record high F = 75

|Dec record high F = 68

|year record high F = 100

|Jan avg record high F = 57.8

|Feb avg record high F = 57.3

|Mar avg record high F = 65.2

|Apr avg record high F = 72.9

|May avg record high F = 81.5

|Jun avg record high F = 89.2

|Jul avg record high F = 92.7

|Aug avg record high F = 90.9

|Sep avg record high F = 87.2

|Oct avg record high F = 77.0

|Nov avg record high F = 65.4

|Dec avg record high F = 57.2

|year avg record high F = 94.0

|Jan high F = 36.8

|Feb high F = 36.3

|Mar high F = 44.2

|Apr high F = 50.2

|May high F = 59.6

|Jun high F = 71.1

|Jul high F = 78.7

|Aug high F = 77.5

|Sep high F = 69.1

|Oct high F = 55.0

|Nov high F = 44.4

|Dec high F = 36.6

|year high F = 55.0

|Jan mean F = 27.8

|Feb mean F = 27.3

|Mar mean F = 34.8

|Apr mean F = 41.0

|May mean F = 50.6

|Jun mean F = 61.5

|Jul mean F = 68.9

|Aug mean F = 67.8

|Sep mean F = 59.4

|Oct mean F = 45.9

|Nov mean F = 35.7

|Dec mean F = 28.2

|year mean F = 45.7

|Jan low F = 18.8

|Feb low F = 18.4

|Mar low F = 25.4

|Apr low F = 31.8

|May low F = 41.5

|Jun low F = 51.9

|Jul low F = 59.1

|Aug low F = 58.0

|Sep low F = 49.6

|Oct low F = 36.8

|Nov low F = 27.0

|Dec low F = 19.8

|year low F = 36.5

|Jan avg record low F = -5.8

|Feb avg record low F = -4.2

|Mar avg record low F = 3.8

|Apr avg record low F = 15.3

|May avg record low F = 26.9

|Jun avg record low F = 39.8

|Jul avg record low F = 48.1

|Aug avg record low F = 45.9

|Sep avg record low F = 32.2

|Oct avg record low F = 17.2

|Nov avg record low F = 6.8

|Dec avg record low F = -2.2

|year avg record low F = -12.6

|Jan record low F = −38

|Feb record low F = −29

|Mar record low F = −16

|Apr record low F = 1

|May record low F = 14

|Jun record low F = 27

|Jul record low F = 40

|Aug record low F = 33

|Sep record low F = 19

|Oct record low F = −4

|Nov record low F = −12

|Dec record low F = −31

|year record low F = −38

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 0.48

|Feb precipitation inch = 0.76

|Mar precipitation inch = 1.35

|Apr precipitation inch = 2.62

|May precipitation inch = 4.80

|Jun precipitation inch = 3.58

|Jul precipitation inch = 3.59

|Aug precipitation inch = 2.29

|Sep precipitation inch = 1.76

|Oct precipitation inch = 1.80

|Nov precipitation inch = 0.59

|Dec precipitation inch = 0.50

|year precipitation inch = 24.12

|Jan snow inch = 7.2

|Feb snow inch = 8.9

|Mar snow inch = 9.6

|Apr snow inch = 13.1

|May snow inch = 1.5

|Jun snow inch = 0.2

|Jul snow inch = 0.0

|Aug snow inch = 0.0

|Sep snow inch = 0.9

|Oct snow inch = 4.9

|Nov snow inch = 6.4

|Dec snow inch = 6.6

|year snow inch = 59.3

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 5.1

|Feb precipitation days = 6.1

|Mar precipitation days = 6.7

|Apr precipitation days = 9.7

|May precipitation days = 13.6

|Jun precipitation days = 13.4

|Jul precipitation days = 12.4

|Aug precipitation days = 10.5

|Sep precipitation days = 7.7

|Oct precipitation days = 7.1

|Nov precipitation days = 4.5

|Dec precipitation days = 4.7

|year precipitation days = 101.5

|unit snow days = 0.1 in

|Jan snow days = 4.5

|Feb snow days = 4.9

|Mar snow days = 3.9

|Apr snow days = 3.4

|May snow days = 0.8

|Jun snow days = 0.1

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.2

|Oct snow days = 1.7

|Nov snow days = 3.0

|Dec snow days = 4.0

|year snow days = 26.5

|source 1 = NOAA

{{cite web

| url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=unr

| title = NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = October 28, 2021}}

{{cite web

| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00395870&format=pdf

| title = Station: MT RUSHMORE NMEM, SD

| work = U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020)

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = October 28, 2021}}

}}

{{Main|Mount Rushmore in popular culture}}

File:North_by_Northwest_movie_trailer_screenshot_(28).jpg) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) dangle precipitously from the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest.]]

File:North by Northwest trailer (1959).webm

Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple films, comic books, and television series.{{Cite book |last=Gunderson |first=Jessica |title=Mount Rushmore: Myths, Legends, and Facts |date=July 1, 2014 |publisher=Capstone |isbn=978-1-4914-0208-5 |pages=28 |language=en |chapter=Mount Rushmore Today |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8otBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28}}{{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Gladys L. |title=Pop Culture Places: An Encyclopedia of Places in American Popular Culture [3 volumes] |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39883-4 |pages=623 |language=en |chapter=Mount Rushmore |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kheDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA623}} Its functions vary from settings for action scenes to the site of hidden locations. Its most famous appearance is as the location of the final chase scene in the 1959 film North by Northwest.{{Cite web |last=Powell |first=Laura |title=Mount Rushmore on the Big Screen |url=https://www.visittheusa.com/experience/mount-rushmore-big-screen |access-date=May 14, 2022 |website=Visit The USA |language=en}}{{Cite magazine |last=Freund |first=Charles Paul |date=2003 |title=Big schlock candy Mountain: the many meanings of Mount Rushmore |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Big+schlock+candy+Mountain%3A+the+many+meanings+of+Mount+Rushmore....-a096644882 |magazine=Reason}} It is used as a secret base of operations by the protagonists in the 2004 film Team America: World Police,{{Cite web |title=9 Famous Pop Culture Spots in the USA You Don't Want to Miss |url=https://www.visittheusa.com/experience/9-famous-pop-culture-spots-usa-you-dont-want-miss |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=Visit The USA |language=en |quote=A variety of films and television shows suggest Mount Rushmore's use as a secret hideout for the government such as in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and "Team America: World Police."}}{{Cite web |last=Honeycutt |first=Kirk |date=October 15, 2019 |title='Team America: World Police': THR's 2004 Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/team-america-world-police-review-movie-2004-1247989/ |access-date=May 14, 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} and the secret underground city of Cíbola is located there in the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In the Phineas and Ferb episode Candace Loses Her Head, both Phineas and Ferb sculpt Candace's face on the monument for her 15th birthday.{{Cite web |date=December 30, 2015 |title=

The subversive non-subversiveness of "Phineas and Ferb" |url=https://decentfilms.com/articles/phineasandferb |access-date=August 5, 2024 |language=en-US}} In some films, the presidential faces are replaced with others; examples include the 1980 film Superman II and the 1996 film Mars Attacks! where the villains add their faces to the monument, and the 2003 film Head of State where the newly elected president's face is added. In works showing attacks on landmarks to signify the scope of a threat, Mount Rushmore is a common target; examples include the aforementioned facial replacements in Superman II and Mars Attacks! as well as natural disasters in works like the 2006 miniseries 10.5: Apocalypse and terrorist attacks as in the 1997 film The Peacekeeper.{{Cite book |last=Doss |first=Erika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RiQiBwzFCcC&pg=PA57 |title=Memorial Mania: Public Feeling in America |date=September 7, 2012 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-15939-3 |pages=57 |language=en |author-link=Erika Doss}} An atypical representation of the monument appears in the 2013 film Nebraska, where instead of being treated with reverence it is criticized for being unfinished.Walter Metz, "[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/565609 Review: Nebraska. Dir. Alexander Payne. Paramount Vantage, 2013]". Middle West Review Volume 1, Number 1, (University of Nebraska Press, Fall 2014), p. 154–55.

{{main|Black Hills land claim}}

The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had granted the Black Hills to the Lakota people in perpetuity, but the United States took the area from the tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971, naming it "Mount Crazy Horse", and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer planted a prayer staff on top of the mountain. Lame Deer said that the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the presidents' faces "which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are fulfilled."Matthew Glass, "Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2. (Summer, 1994), pp. 265–283.

The 1980 United States Supreme Court decision United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians{{Cite web|title=United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980) |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/448/371.html|access-date=February 11, 2021|website=Findlaw|language=en-US}} ruled that the Sioux had not received just compensation for their land in the Black Hills,{{cite web |title=Significant Indian Cases |url=https://www.justice.gov/enrd/significant-indian-cases |website=The United States Department of Justice |date=May 12, 2015 |publisher=United States Government |access-date=July 4, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704034335/https://www.justice.gov/enrd/significant-indian-cases |archive-date= Jul 4, 2020 }} which includes Mount Rushmore. The court proposed $102 million as compensation for the loss of the Black Hills. This compensation was valued at $1.3 billion in 2011,{{Cite web|date=August 24, 2011|title=Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/north_america-july-dec11-blackhills_08-23|access-date=February 11, 2021|website=PBS NewsHour|language=en-us}} and – with accumulated interest – nearly $2 billion in 2021. In 2020, Oglala Lakota Nation citizen and Indigenous activist Nick Tilsen explained that his people would not accept a settlement, "because we won't settle for anything less than the full return of our lands as stipulated by the treaties our nations signed and agreed upon."{{cite news|last1=Tilsen|first1=Nick|title=Trump's Mount Rushmore fireworks show is a Fourth of July attack on Indigenous people|publisher=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-mount-rushmore-fireworks-show-fourth-july-attack-indigenous-ncna1232827|access-date=July 3, 2020}}

Construction on the Crazy Horse Memorial began in 1940 elsewhere in the Black Hills. Ostensibly to commemorate the Native American leader and as a response to Mount Rushmore, if completed it would be larger than Mount Rushmore. The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds. Its construction has the support of some Lakota chiefs, but it is the subject of controversy, even among Native American tribes.Lame Deer, John (Fire) and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1972. Paperback {{ISBN|0-671-55392-5}}

{{multiple image

| align = right

| total_width = 300

| image_gap = 25

| caption_align = left

| image1 = Mount Rushmore stamp 3c 1952 issue.JPG

| alt1 = 1952 Mount Rushmore Stamp Issued in United States

| caption1 = 3-cent Mount Rushmore stamp, 1952

| image2 = Mount Rushmore airmail 26c 1974 issue.JPG

| alt2 = 1974 Mount Rushmore Stamp Issued in United States

| caption2 = 26-cent Mount Rushmore "Shrine of Democracy" airmail stamp, 1974

| image3 =

| alt3 = 2006 South Dakota state quarter

| caption3 = 2006 South Dakota state quarter}}

File:Mount Rushmore Anniversary Dollar.jpg commemorative silver dollar]]

Borglum titled his sculpture at Mount Rushmore as the Shrine of Democracy, but the illegal seizure of the Black Hills where the memorial is located has led to some critics to refer to it as the "Shrine of Hypocrisy".{{Cite book |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Mario |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xv8vNd6VgMMC&pg=PA146 |title=The Politics of Hallowed Ground: Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty |last2=Cook-Lynn |first2=Elizabeth |author-link2=Elizabeth Cook-Lynn |date=1999 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06669-6 |language=en |pages=144–146}}{{Cite journal |last=Hoople |first=Robin |date=December 1, 2006 |title=Great Stone Faces: Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Quest for American Authenticity |url=https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/CRAS-s036-03-07 |journal=Canadian Review of American Studies |language=en |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=345–362 |doi=10.3138/CRAS-s036-03-07 |issn=0007-7720|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=Louie |first=Clarence |author-link=Clarence Louie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JIs0EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |title=Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples |date=November 16, 2021 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |page=201 |isbn=978-0-7710-4834-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Estes |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Estes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_W_nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT222 |title=Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance |date=February 26, 2019 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78663-673-7 |language=en |page=222}}

On August 11, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial 3-cent commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.{{cite web |title=3c Mt. Rushmore single |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=July 1, 2014 |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=145349 |archive-date=May 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504180016/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=145349 |url-status=dead }} On January 2, 1974, a 26-cent airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued.{{cite book |title=Scotts United States Stamp catalogue, 1982 |publisher=Scott's Publishing Company |isbn=0-89487-042-4 |year=1981}}, p. 289. In 1991 the United States Mint released commemorative silver dollar, half-dollar, and five-dollar coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the monument's dedication,{{cite web |url=https://moderncommemoratives.com/1991-mount-rushmore-silver-dollar/ |website=Modern Commemoratives |title=1991 Mount Rushmore Silver Dollar |date=June 10, 2009 |access-date=February 28, 2020 }}{{Cite web |date=June 9, 2009 |title=1991 Mount Rushmore Half Dollar Commemorative Coin |url=https://moderncommemoratives.com/1991-mount-rushmore-half-dollar/ |access-date=May 14, 2022 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2009 |title=1991 Mount Rushmore $5 Gold Commemorative Coin |url=https://moderncommemoratives.com/1991-mount-rushmore-5-gold/ |access-date=May 14, 2022 |language=en-US}} and the sculpture was the main subject of the 2006 South Dakota state quarter.Jim Noles, A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America—One State Quarter at a Time" (Da Capo Press, May 6, 2008) {{ASIN|B009K44LT8}}.

In music, American composer Michael Daugherty's 2010 piece for chorus and orchestra, "Mount Rushmore", depicts each of the four presidents in separate movements. The piece sets texts by George Washington, William Billings, Thomas Jefferson, Maria Cosway, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.[http://www.boosey.com/cr/news/Michael-Daugherty-s-Mount-Rushmore-Premieres-with-the-Pacific-Symphony-and-Chorale/11964 "Michael Daugherty's Mount Rushmore Premieres with the Pacific Symphony and Chorale"] Retrieved August 27, 2014. By contrast, the song, "Little Snakes", by Protest The Hero, "addresses the violent colonial history involved in the sculpting of Mount Rushmore", critiquing the monument as a symbol of colonialism, referencing the genocide of indigenous peoples and the ownership of slaves by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.{{Cite web|last=Rolli|first=Bryan|date=June 16, 2020|title=Protest the Hero's Rody Walker: Trump's Vision of Greatness Is America's 'Tragic Flaw'|url=https://loudwire.com/protest-the-hero-interview-rody-walker-trump-greatness-america-flaw/|access-date=October 27, 2020|website=Loudwire|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Slingerland|first=Calum|date=June 18, 2020|title=Protest the Hero Give American History a Scathing Rewrite on 'Palimpsest'|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/protest_the_hero_palimpsest_album_review|access-date=October 27, 2020|website=exclaim.ca|language=en-ca}}

The Washington Nationals baseball club uses large foam rubber depictions of the "Rushmore Four" in both their marketing campaigns and in a series of in-stadium promotions such as the Presidents Race.{{Cite web |date=October 21, 2019 |title=The history of the Nationals Presidents Race: Who is winning and why |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/sports/mlb/the-nats-presidents-race-explained/65-49b98b6c-b1c4-4afa-b222-3af5349ecefd |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023104442/https://www.wusa9.com/article/sports/mlb/the-nats-presidents-race-explained/65-49b98b6c-b1c4-4afa-b222-3af5349ecefd |archive-date=October 23, 2019 |website=wusa9.com}}{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8457719/teddy-mascot-wins-washington-nationals-presidents-race|title='Teddy' wins for 1st time in 534 races|date=October 3, 2012 |publisher=ESPN }}

• List of colossal sculpture in situ
• List of tallest statues
• List of national memorials of the United States
• List of statues of George Washington
• List of statues of Thomas Jefferson
• List of statues of Abraham Lincoln
• List of sculptures of presidents of the United States
• Presidential memorials in the United States
• Crazy Horse Memorial, another large sculpture in the Black Hills
• Young Mao Zedong statue, a large relief carved of granite, although not carved into the rock
• Atatürk Mask, a large relief sculpture, although not carved into the rock

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=Making Mount Rushmore |url=http://www.ohranger.com/mount-rushmore/making-mount-rushmore |work=Oh, Ranger! |publisher=APN Media |access-date=January 27, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121120074710/http://www.ohranger.com/mount-rushmore/making-mount-rushmore |archive-date= Nov 20, 2012}}
• {{cite web |last=Buckingham |first=Matthew|url=http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/7/sixgrandfathers.php|title=The Six Grandfathers, Paha Sapa, in the Year 502,002 C.E.|access-date=January 27, 2013|work=Cabinet Magazine|date=Summer 2002|publisher=Immaterial Incorporated}}
• Coutant, Arnaud (2014). [https://web.archive.org/web/20160311133645/http://www.mareetmartin.com/livre/_les-visages-de-l-amerique Les Visages de l'Amérique, les constructeurs d'une démocratie fédérale]. Mare et Martin ({{ISBN|978-2-84934-160-5}}). French study about the Four Presidents, Life, presidency, influence about American political evolution. (Archived link)
• {{cite web |last=Del Bianco |first=Lou |title=Luigi Del Bianco: chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore, 1933–1940 |url=http://www.luigimountrushmore.com |publisher=Lou Del Bianco |access-date=January 27, 2013}}
• {{cite news |last=Dobrzynski |first=Judith H. |date=July 15, 2006|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115290739146207240?mod=todays_us_pursuits|title=A Monumental Achievement |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=January 27, 2013}}
• Larner, Jesse (2002). Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered. New York: Nation Books.
• Taliaferro, John (2002). Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore. New York: PublicAffairs. {{ISBN|978-1-58648-205-3}}.
• The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. {{oclc|53228516}}.
• {{Cite web|url=https://blog.nativehope.org/six-grandfathers-before-it-was-known-as-mount-rushmore|title=The Six Grandfathers Before It Was Known as Mount Rushmore|website=Native Hope |access-date=April 2, 2021 |ref=none}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www-tc.pbs.org/nationalparks/media/pdfs/untold_stories_mount_rushmore.pdf|series=The National Parks: America's Best Idea|title=Untold Stories Discussion Guide: Baker and Mount Rushmore|publisher=PBS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018095719/http://www-tc.pbs.org/nationalparks/media/pdfs/untold_stories_mount_rushmore.pdf|archive-date=October 18, 2015|url-status=dead |ref=none}}
• {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Rex Alan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/784885603 |title=The Carving of Mount Rushmore. |date=2011 |publisher=Abbeville Press |isbn=978-0-7892-6008-6 |location=New York |oclc=784885603}}

{{sister project links|d=y|c=Category:Mount Rushmore National Memorial|voy=Mount Rushmore National Memorial|v=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|n=no|wikt=Mount Rushmore|s=no|b=no}}

• {{official website | https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm}}

{{Mount Rushmore}}

{{List of official United States national symbols}}

{{Gutzon Borglum}}

{{Black Hills, South Dakota}}

{{George Washington}}

{{Thomas Jefferson}}

{{Theodore Roosevelt}}

{{Abraham Lincoln}}

{{United States topics}}

{{NRHP in Pennington County, South Dakota}}

{{Protected areas of South Dakota}}

{{Mountains of South Dakota}}

{{Sculptures}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Rushmore}}

Category:National memorials of the United States

Category:Black Hills

Category:Landforms of Pennington County, South Dakota

Category:Monuments and memorials in South Dakota

Category:National Park Service areas in South Dakota

Category:Outdoor sculptures in South Dakota

Category:Protected areas of Pennington County, South Dakota

Rushmore

Category:Presidential memorials in the United States

Category:Granite sculptures in South Dakota

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Category:Monuments and memorials to Thomas Jefferson

Category:Monuments and memorials to Abraham Lincoln in the United States

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Category:Abraham Lincoln in art

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Category:Sculptures in South Dakota

Category:Sculptures by Gutzon Borglum

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