Why is Teddy Roosevelt on Mt. Rushmore?

Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, I totally understand.

But Theodore Roosevelt?

That's questionable. I would have put FDR up there, instead.

It's actually supposed to be Diana Ross. The commission stipulated The Supremes but the sculptor just wasn't that good. The best one is Mary Wilson (second from left).

R1 obviously wins, but let me add that all the sculptor Borglum would have needed to put FDR on there would have been a time machine. Why, then he could have added Kennedy too, while he was at it!

Notably, thousands of years from now the only thing that might remain on the planet to point towards the existence of the US is the Panama Canal. It was an enormous engineering undertaking and will have enormous effects for a long long time. That was spearheaded by president Roosevelt.

I think it has something to do with Teddy being the driving force behind the National Park movement.

Gee, come to think of it, it’s almost like he deserves to be up there because he is literally the founder of the National Parks—you know, America’s greatest idea?

Maybe they should just carve Hillary’s face over his instead, though, to appease the morons. After all, how could a woman ever aspire to be POTUS without representation? We all know nobody can do anything in the world without following the exact model of someone who looks exactly like you.

Surely, Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper only because his uncle Mario da Vinci painted The Second to Last Supper before him and Mario da Vinci Sr. of course had painted The Last Lunch before that.....

R4 is correct. Teddy's face was stuck there because he was the driving force behind the spectacular national park system. As a hiker through some of America's glorious national parks, old Ted truly deserves to be there.

Borglum was showing off. Doing that thing where it looks like Teddy's wearing glasses even though all it is are some grooves cut into the stone is pretty cool and Borglum knew it.

White faces on the mountain. Wounds that will never heal.

Glad TR isn't on there for the Panama Canal. It would have been finished quicker and without costing anywhere near as many lives as it did if quinine/tonic water had been distributed from the very beginning of the project to all of the poor, doomed men who built it.

Isn't Mount Rushmore a natural formation anyway?

Trump is going to add himself and rename it Trumpmore.

I say we start blasting more faces into that mountain, and put my face where it OUGHT TO BE!!!

Click on the link at R18. The preview photo is different.

"These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory"

you're welcome,

your constant friend,

OP, Borglum got the idea and started sculpting while FDR was alive and the president. You are not supposed to memorialize living presidents.

Who would be on the gay Mount Pornmore?

Teddy was considered one of our greatest, particularly at that time. He did alot to preserve lands from development.

Teddy's up there to honor his work with the alienist

r18 thanks. The pics were great

[quote] Teddy's up there to honor his work with the alienist

Well then the plaque should at least acknowledge the sacrifices of the boy whores.

He made anti-trust, conservation of natural resources, worker protections, and consumer protections his top priorities. He was anti corporate politics, which is the most damaging aspect of the modern political spectrum.

The carvings were done from 1927-1941 with the four individual faces being dedicated between 1936-39.

FDR was not elected until 1932 and was still mired in the depression, and with his war presidency well ahead of him, when the sculptures were done.

R22, Madonna, Cher, Ellen and Liberace. maybe Buchannan AKA Miss Sissypants.

Mister R27, we could use a man like Teddy Roosevelt today.

^^^ Those were the daaaaaaaays!!

Maybe because he was President at the time it was built?

Yeah, no shit, R30. Something tells me TR would have loathed Trump, and would have challenged him to a duel, or whatever the current equivalent would be.

They’ll be adding Joe Biden after he rescues us from the Trump nightmare in 2020.

They needed to balance it out by carving a hipster with a mustache.

Do they have one for those who won the popular vote? Asking for a friend.

Real men were President back then. Now we have a gilded toilet, fast food beast with soft, small hands roaming around on a golf cart because of his chronic case of bone spurs.

R30, we could use a man like Millard Filmore today.

Let’s not gloss over that TR was a war hero and the father of the modern United States Navy. The great white fleet is what made the US a world power and it’s the force more than anything else that allows the USA to dominate international events. Despite all the sniping, that has in turn fostered an unparalleled period of peace and prosperity in the West.

TR also took on a European power, albeit a small weak one, and drove it out by military force, enforcing the Monroe Doctrine by force of arms. This made him extremely popular.

He also took many steps to prevent monopolies from dominating the US economy.

These things made TR look larger than life in the 20s and 30s. Like it or not he was quite a remarkable man and effective president.

Teddy Roosevelt would be primaried out of today's Republican party. Probably by some teabag moron like Louie Gohmert.

The most impactful image IMO is the Crazy Horse monument. It is o powerful, and it looks alive. I love the four faces on Mt Rushmore, but Crazy Horse Monument near by is just magnificent.

R32's comment deserves repeating.

OP is an idiot.

OP's next post: "Why isn't Martin Luther King on Stone Mountain?"

Perhaps those bicycles he introduced to the NYC police force when he was a commissioner had something to do with it?