Donald Trump Wants to Add His Face to Mount Rushmore. Here's What Its Former Keeper Says About 'the Reality of the Rock'
Trump has floated the idea of adding himself to the famed South Dakota mountainside since his first term, reportedly fancying the idea so much that then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem gifted him an $1,100 bust of his face in the lineup during his park visit in 2020.
The possibility of a five-face Rushmore has garnered renewed interest among Trump's most loyal supporters since his return to office, culminating in a House bill introduced by Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. But the question of whether the plan could — or should — work still looms.
Trump isn't the first proposed addition to the landmark — Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan have also been mentioned in the past as possible additions. But a longstanding argument against any updates to the sculpture, said Dan Wenk, the former superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, is that the piece of art is already finished, visually and rhetorically.
According to the National Park Service, the four presidents carved on Mount Rushmore were specifically chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum to represent major facets of the United States' first 150 years: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the country, respectively.
'You wouldn't add another face to Borglum's Mount Rushmore just like you wouldn't add one to da Vinci's 'Last Supper,'' Wenk told The New York Times. 'But I recognize that these types of ideas are no longer off the table.'
Another, more practical point is that the mountain may not be able to withstand any further alteration.
During the sculpture's creation from 1927 to 1941, questions were constantly raised about the reliability of the mountain's composite, as the rock was in many places delicate and unpredictable. The National Park Service told the Times in a statement that there simply isn't room for another face on the side of the mountain.
'The carved portion of Mount Rushmore has been thoroughly evaluated, and there are no viable locations left for additional carvings,' the park service told the outlet.
Borglum — the main mind behind Mount Rushmore's design — ultimately changed his plan nine times, due to rock inconsistency, fractures and fragility in the mountain.
Early plans, according to Smithsonian magazine, included an entablature with a short history of the country, a staircase, a Hall of Records to include the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the torsos of each president featured. But each idea was abandoned due to the rock's fragility.
While there is, technically, free mountainside space on either side of the historic sculpture, Borglum believed only the space he ended up using in the final product was actually workable, and there would be no more room for any sort of addition.
Thus, those wishing to see Mount Rushmore evolve in any artistic way are likely to be disappointed, Wenk told the Times.
'Fortunately, from my view — and not just for Trump but anybody else — they're fighting against the reality of the rock," Wenk said.
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