America is still the greatest country on the planet no matter what the liberal media espouses and our Obama government atones. Want proof? Make a pilgrimage to Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota and re-kindle your love for this country.
Four of the greatest Presidents in US History are carved into 60 foot high granite faces on Mount Rushmore. From left to right, George Washington, Father of our Country, Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, Teddy Roosevelt, the Conservationist, and Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipator, all peer pensively to the Southeast as the sun and shadows darts across their regal weathered countenances. It is one of the most compelling blendings of art and nature in the world. Powerful. Strong. Patriotic. Uniquely American.
Washington has the most prominent position on the granite face...as it should be. The Appointed commander of the Continental Army in 1775 molded and led a fighting force that won independence from Great Britain. He helped guide the deliberations to form a government that has now lasted over 200 years. He was our first elected President in 1789.
Jefferson's image to Washington's left with head tilted slightly to the right occupies a space on the granite face only suitable for such a great man. Besides being the author of the Declaration of Independence, "We the people...", he also was a philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor and the third President of the United States. He also had the foresight to purchase the vast Louisiana territory which doubled the land mass of the young republic.
Roosevelt's image to Jefferson's left is slightly tucked into a flaky depression in the rock face and which proved to be the hardest carving on the face. Once they found solid rock the artist/sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, fashioned Roosevelt's famous "pinc-nez" spectacles out of the rock. Energetic, positive and extremely self-confident, Roosevelt was a man of action. He fathered the National Park Service which preserved 234 million acres of land for conservation. He also influenced the construction of the Panama Canal which made the United States a world power. He was elected our 26th President of the United States.
Lincoln's image to Roosevelt's left is set deep into rock with eyes even deeper set. Lincoln, elected as our 16th President of the United States, helped to preserve the Union during the Civil War. After four bloody years of war with the Confederate States of America, Lincoln in 1865 accepted General Robert E. Lee's surrender thus preserving the Union and abolished slavery in the United States.
Some facts about the monument: 1927-1941 were the blasting/drilling/carving years of the faces, 400 workers were employed, total cost was $989,992.32, Washington's nose is 21 feet long, each eye is 11 feet wide, no workers died in 14 years of hanging off the edge of the world in bosun's chairs and 3 million people from around the world visit Mount Rushmore annually.
Knowing that Mount Rushmore is virtually in the middle of nowhere should not dissuade you from seeing such a "colossal reality." If the Japanese, the Chinese and the Europeans make the trip, you can too.
Go, you'll feel better about being an American again.
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