The Who2 Blog
Mount Rushmore 2.0: Reagan or JFK?
A reader's photo submission has got us thinking about Mount Rushmore. Mr. A. Alexander Stella of Pennsylvania writes:
JFK... Mount Rushmore... 'bout Time, Don'cha?!
[Enclosed is] my rather rough suggestion for how the likeness of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy should be chiseled on Mount Rushmore.
Here's that "rather rough" image:
Mr. Stella continues:
The executive board in charge of the Reagan Library is rumored to be planning a massive campaign that involves Mount Rushmore. Maybe it’ll coincide with the upcoming presidential election. If all that should come to pass, what a coincidence that would be!
Well, yes and no. Congress already discussed adding Ronald Reagan to Mount Rushmore in 1999 and rejected the idea. In fact, GOP candidate Michele Bachmann just brought it up again the other day.
'Reagan on Mount Rushmore' t-shirts are still available online:
It would be a thrill to see a stoneworker chisel out the perfectly-sculpted hair of either Reagan or Kennedy, of course. (In Reagan's case, it might be fun to darken his hair and then insist that it was perfectly natural Black Hills granite.)
But both the Reagan and JFK camps are missing the point. Activists always want to crowd one face in on the left or right end of the monument. In truth, Gutzon Borglum left plenty of room for MANY new presidents. They just need to go in a second row.
In the spirit of bipartisanship artistry, I bring you: The Rushmore Ten.
Problem solved! The Rushmore Ten gives us room for Reagan and Kennedy, plus four more of our own choosing. I've selected:
- John Quincy Adams (famous name, and his 17 years as a U.S. Representative should grease the skids with Congress)
- Ulysses S. Grant (Civil War hero, two-termer, we need a second beard to balance Lincoln)
- Gerald Ford (because his head just looks like it should be chiseled in rock)
- Harry Truman (Democratic balance to the Republican Ford, plus everyone loves him)
That's a nice fit: five 20th-century presidents, four 19th-century, and George Washington from the 18th century. You may have your own choices. The actual selections will fall to Congress, and I can't imagine they'll have any trouble agreeing on the final four.
The point is, this is a chisel-ready project that everyone can get behind. It would really bring the country together. And talk about creating jobs! The environmental impact statement alone should add 100,000 new positions to the economy.
Thanks to Mr. Stella for a literally groundbreaking idea. Here's where to write your Congressman in support of The Rushmore Ten.
5 comments
Everybody's pretty much forgotten who those guys are on the mountain anyway, so I suggest re-carving the whole dang thing into Gerry Ford's forehead. That would be easiest, and would include lots of blasting, which is good TV.
Well, Crazy Horse is down the road so that nixes my idea for Clinton (the modern Crazy Horse), and FDR was kind of a Sitting Bull. I guess I'll have to drop my idea of honoring Natives and presidents simultaneously. Maybe we can just wait and hope for Jeb to jump in and win at the last minute so we can have an tri-Bush addition. Cool.
Just looking at that Crazy Horse sculpture, I can imagine modifying it to fit Clinton.
Now for the Bushes, if you drop in Barbara Bush (first woman!) then you could just obliterate the four current presidents on Rushmore and replace them with the four Bushes. Barbara already looks like George Washington, so you're 25% done as is.
I think you have something there, with the idea of an All Bush Mt. Rushmore. They could even call it Mt. Bushmore, a fitting honor for that American dynasty.
We don't need Jeb, though. Washington becomes Barbara (a day's work -- unless we use union labor, of course), Jefferson could easily be altered to look like W. (and then he'd be right next to his mama) and Lincoln could be made-over to look like George H.W.
Naturally, Teddy Roosevelt would become Millie the dog, sitting uneasily between Bush I and Bush II.
Mt. Bushmore!