There are so many reasons why Mount Rushmore National Monument *shouldn’t* exist. Right from the start, there was opposition. Environmentalists called the proposed monument a desecration. Native Americans rightly asserted that the Black Hills — and specifically the Six Grandfathers Mountain (aka Mount Rushmore) — was their property.

But that didn’t stop Gutzon Borglum, or his circle of high-powered supporters. Together, they pushed forward. They even manipulated a president! Thanks to a mix of hubris, luck, and money, Mount Rushmore National Monument began to take shape.

The book, “The Carving of Mount Rushmore,” by Rex Alan Smith

The documentary, “Mount Rushmore”

“The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore,” by Matthew Shaer for Smithsonian Magazine

“Biography: Gutzon Borglum,” PBS.org

“The heartbreaking, controversial history of Mount Rushmore,” by Amy McKeever for National Geographic

“Why Native Americans Have Protested Mount Rushmore,” by Jodi Rave for History.com

“Are treaties perpetual? United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians,” by Reid Benson for teachingamericanhistory.org

“The largest mass execution in US history,” Death Penalty Information Center

The video, “The dark history of Mount Rushmore,” for TedEd.com

“BIOGRAPHY: Native Americans and Mount Rushmore,” PBS.org

“United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians,” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains

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