FWIW,

wp:Mount Rushmore

Borglum chose Mount Rushmore in part because it faces southeast for maximum sun exposure. The carving was the idea of Doane Robinson, South Dakota’s state historian. Robinson originally wanted the sculpture to feature American West heroes, such as Lewis and Clark, their expedition guide Sacagawea, Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud,[11] Buffalo Bill Cody,[12] and Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse.[13] Borglum, arguing that the sculpture should be national in scope rather than regional, convinced them to choose the four presidents instead.

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The sculpture at Mount Rushmore was built on land that was taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s.[16] The Sioux continue to demand return of the land, and in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians that the taking of the Black Hills required just compensation and awarded the tribe $102 million. The Sioux have refused the money, and demand the return of the land. This conflict continues, leading some critics of the monument to refer to it as a “Shrine of Hypocrisy”.[17]

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The peak that would later be known as Mount Rushmore is situated in the Black Hills, which has been inhabited by numerous indigenous groups over the centuries. The Ponca, Arikara, and Mandan were among the earliest recorded inhabitants, and were later displaced by the Kiowa, Plains Apache, and Shoshone. By 1800 those groups were supplanted by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Sioux, with the Lakota becoming the majority in the area by 1850.[18][19]

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Proposals to add additional faces

In 1937, when the sculpture was not yet complete, a bill in Congress supporting the addition of women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony failed. When the sculpture was completed in 1941, the sculptors said that the remaining rock was not suitable for additional carvings. This stance was shared by RESPEC, an engineering firm charged with monitoring the stability of the rock in 1989. Proposals of additional sculptures include John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, and Ronald Reagan in 1985 and 1999 – the latter proposal receiving a debate in Congress at the time.[120] Barack Obama was asked about his own potential addition in 2008 and he joked that his ears were too large.[121]

Donald Trump has expressed interest in his own addition to the mountain. During a 2017 rally in Ohio, Trump said, “I’d ask whether or not you some day think I will be on Mount Rushmore … If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, ‘He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore.’ So I won’t say it.”[122] South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem described the potential addition as Trump’s “dream” in 2018.[123] On January 28, 2025, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced a bill, H.R. 792, in the House of Representatives to add Trump’s likeness to the monument.[124]