Standing for freedom, democracy, republics. I get to think about that every day, i get a share that with people every day. I meet people from all over the world who might not know who those. S are, but they understand what freedom means. The original idea was by a state historian and they had conceived of carving statues. He was going to carve all the way around and have people like lewis and clark, chief red cloud, fremont and when he hired his artist, he said you are not thinking big enough. Selecting the four people up there, that was the artist, utzon borglum. You can figure out why they were selected. George washington, the first president. The person who gave up the power. He could have stayed in power. He was very popular. Thomas jefferson, a lot of people say that is because of the declaration of independence, but that is not why the artist borglum chose him. Borglum chose him because of the louisiana purchase. Doubling the size of the country. Lincoln, you can probably figure that out, keeping the country together during the civil war. Taking care of the nation. The challenging one, theodore roosevelt. Selected by the artist, but he was not the most popular guy at the time. Borglum selected theater roosevelt because of the panama canal. He took the nation from being bound by the ocean and expanded and went international. He was also the president standing for the common man. Both of those things resonated with the artist. Two of the four were slaveowners. Does that bring discussion and do you talk about that with your interpretation of these residents . Washington and jefferson . Some of the president s were slaveowners, there is discussion that pops up about that. It is not as much discussion as you might expect because you might think it is a major controversy. It is certainly something we step forward and talk about. All of our interpretive programs, any time you hear a park ranger talking about something, they did their own research, it put their own program together and do their own presentation. We dont focus on one thing particular. We have had some, their focus was slavery and what it meant to the country. Not just president s were slaveowners but president s who wrestled with slavery. Can you describe for Mount Rushmore is an it in context with the black hills . Mount rushmore is in the state of south dakota, south dakota has the black hills on the western side of the state. If you are looking at rapid city, we are 2000 feet higher. Some people refer to this as the turtle on the prairie. You can see the black hills from a long distance. Tribes considered the black hills a sacred site. They could see it in the istance. It looked black because of the panda roso pines. Over the years, there has been discussion from native americans and others about the location of the black hills being sacred and right here you have something that represents, to some people, the u. S. Government, the policies toward native americans have not been look at the same way. What do you talk about you tell people about that issue and Mount Rushmore . There was some controversy from the start, carving in the black hills. That controversy came from tribal people and people who we would today call the tribes were looking for a place they would come in and honor and have ceremonies, spent some ime. At that time period, we are talking 1925, that was not looked at the same way we look at it today. Today, we still have tribal people were concerned about the black hills being carved, People Living in the black hills and we try to honor that, some of that to our interpretive programming. We also have a place we set up in the park called the heritage village. Every summer, we hire cultural interpreters. These are people who are lakota and they talk about the lakota story. We are trained to share the importance of the black hills for all of these people, as well as what that sculpture means. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum started in stone mountain, georgia. There was a conflict, he left and he came up here. The first challenge was finding a place to carve, finding something appropriate and he and his son lincoln traveled to the black hills to find the spot until they found a granite outcropping. The next challenge is, how do you turn that into a sculpture . As an artist, the first thing borglum had to do was make small sizes and make them bigger and bigger until he gets o a 112th model. We today have that original 1 12 model. Every inch on that model is a foot on the sculpture. As you are sculpting, it might be nice and easy, but would you are looking at the mountain, you are talking granite. Tough stuff. 90 of that sculpture is carved with dynamite. I dont always think of dynamite as an artists brush but it was in this case. In 1927, there were people coming up here visiting the sculpture, watching the carving process the entire time. There was not a formal opening day, they had multiple dedications for each president. He was big on dedication because that is how he knew he would get everyones attention. That is some more funding would come. He was constantly going to washington, d. C. , approaching congress and the president to get more money. Always trying to get more money. There were times his workers were not getting paid. Borglum was putting personal money into it. He made a trip to washington, d. C. In march of 1941 to ask for more money. He stops in chicago on the way, has an operation and dies as a result of that operation. His son, lincoln, took over the work. He started when he was 12 years old so he was brought up with this. He knew all of the jobs, blasting, drilling, pointing. He is an artist. Taking over the sculpture must have been both sad and wonderful. Lincoln declared that sculpture was completed october 31, 1941. People ask all the time about adding someone up on the sculpture, many president s have been mentioned, many people have been mentioned. It wont happen. The sculpture is complete. The great stone faces of four president s in lonely silence. Machinery is dismantled after with the death of the sculptor last spring, all the cleanup work was abandoned. In a sculptor borglums studio, his son lincoln puts away models. Borglums hand carving tools are laid away. Tools of an unfinished masterpiece. Even though unfinished, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial stands as an eternal shrine of democracy and of four great americans who helped carve this tour staffr cities recently traveled to rapid city. To learn more about rapid city and other stops, visit citiestour. You are watching American History tv. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country, so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan your unfiltered view of government. Next on American History tv, three women reflect on their experiences working on the apollo space program, sharing how they overcame challenges and their roles with nasa. This program was hosted by the national air and space museum. [applause] ms. Stofan we feel strongly that with the right inspiration and support, one of our visitors could go on and change the world. We to set foot on mars will indeed have stepped through our doors first, and maybe she will come back to give a lecture of her own someday. Before introducing our speakers, im really excited to also let you know we have a special guest who is able to join us at the last moment. Her name is marian lee johnson, and like the women featured in the movie, she was one of the
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