Customer Reviews

Mount Rushmore

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Gilbert Fite's "Mt Rushmore," (1952), like the great monument, is a superb piece of work and lives up to Professor Herbert T. Hoover's description of it, (to me), as the best on the subject.

I have read two new excellent books this year on the monument ('Mt Rushmore:An Icon Reconsidered' By Jesse Larner, and 'Great White Fathers' by John Taliaferro) but I agree with Hoover that Fite's work, now over half a century old, is still the best, in regard to the politics and construction of the 'Shrine of Democracy.'

Professor Fite, a South Dakotan historian now retired in Arkansas,has an easy and engaging style of writing that appeals to the general reader, as well as obvious research abilities that make him repected by his peers.

He brings to life the major players behind the creation of Rushmore monument: Doane Robinson, the lawyer turned- visionary historian who dared to dream of a great monument; Gutzon Borglum the brilliant but irascible sculptor who created something unique for the national memory; the able administrator John Boland whose financial skills were essential for success as was his humility and ability to withstand the bile and denigration of Borglum; and the political skills of Congressmen William Williamson, Francis Case and, in particular, Senator Peter Norbeck, arguably South Dakota's greatest senator and governor whose name is forever connected with the best in conservation principles.

Fite's description of Norbeck's Iron Mountain Road as ensuring the most spectacular framing, or telescoping, of Mt Rushmore by the use of three different tunnels is spot on and brought back warm personal memories of my visit in October 2001. This road plus the earlier Needles highway,together with Custer State Park and game sanctuary remain Norbeck's monument.

There are some great photos of the the early work at Rushmore and of most of the men mentioned above, including my favourite of Doane Robinson, taken in his later years. It seems to epitomise the author's description of him as "mild and even tempered" and reflects why "through the years South Dakotans had come to love and respect Doane Robinson."

Fite is understandably tough on Borglum, who could be very unfair to people who disagreed with his views, while recognising his genius,(although Taliaferro's book goes into greater biographical detail of the sculptor, his family and Ku Klux Klan background), and chronicles the financial and political struggles of the project as well as the dissenting voices to the monument.

Mt Rushmore is indeed a place to reflect, in a dramatic setting-a monument for the ages, representing the greatness and best traditions of America. However, it should also be mentioned it has been created on stolen land and the two newer books mentioned, as you would expect 50 years on, do detail Indian perspectives and grievances, and the other notable events in the history of Rushmore, since Fite's work was produced.

However, as I write this review on the second anniversary of an evil and barbarous terrorist act, it is worth reflecting on that the men of Rushmore were essentially builders-unlike the wreckers and destroyers of the Taliban whose contribution to history was to smash the great Budhist statues of antiquity because they were not monuments of their faith.

Like Mt Rushmore, Professor Fite's book is well constructed and makes us think of peoples and values of worth. Highly recommended.

FOOTNOTE: This great American historian passed away on 13 July 2010. He was 92. I regret our occasional e-mails and phone conversations are finished and that I did not have the opportunity to meet with him, as invited.