From Celebrated to Contested: Public Perceptions of Mount Rushmore?s Meaning on the American Landscape

Abstract

Although most Americans will quickly recognize Mount Rushmore as a national symbol, many are not aware of its history. The memorial has a direct connection to American expansionism in the Black Hills, land that originally belonged to the Lakota. Historians have thoroughly analyzed the history of Mount Rushmore, the history of the Lakota in the Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore's symbolism as a contested sacred space. However, the public perceptions of Mount Rushmore in relationship to Mount Rushmore's meaning on the American landscape have not been thoroughly considered. Thus, this paper uses the New York Times and the Madison Capital Times to understand how Mount Rushmore was discussed by the American public outside of South Dakota both during its carving, from 1924 to 1941, and fifty years later, from 1974 to 1991. With consideration of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission publications, this paper uncovers how public perceptions sometimes reflected the patriotic rhetoric of Mount Rushmore's presentation, the monument's development as a national and popular culture symbol, and a tendency for Americans to question its legitimacy.