Republicans created the Mount Rushmore National Memorial


Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I thank the GOP for creating the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 

Doane Robinson, a Republican activist and South Dakota state historian, had first conceived the project. His original vision had been for statues of Native American heroes, but the sculptor he selected opted instead for statues of U.S. presidents. Next, a Republican Governor secured passage of authorization in the state legislature and a Republican Senator did so in Congress.

August 10th 1927, the President arrived at the site on horseback. Calvin Coolidge was there for a ceremony marking start of construction. He brought steel drill bits, for use in carving granite. Two thousand people gathered.

His speech noted that depictions of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt "will constitute a distinctly national monument. It will be decidedly American in conception, in its magnitude, in its meaning and altogether worthy of our Country. No one can look upon it understandingly without realizing that it is a picture of hope fulfilled."

"This memorial will be another national shrine to which future generations will repair to declare their continuing allegiance to independence, to self-government, to freedom and to economic justice."

Here is a video of President Coolidge at the dedication: www.pbs.org/video/images-past-calvin-coolidge-mount-rushmore-1927 

Coolidge's participation imparted legitimacy to the project. Two years later, the GOP-controlled 71st Congress appropriated federal matching funds and established a commission to oversee construction.

Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com. 

Here is a YouTube Video about this article.

Here is a TikTok Video about this article.

Here is an Instagram Video about this article.

Here is my Substack about this article.

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

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