Women's Rights and Mt. Rushmore - Time for a change?

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Is it time to add the First Ladies to Mt. Rushmore?

Is it time to add in granite the faces of:

Mrs. George Washington

Mrs. Thomas Jefferson

Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt

and

Mrs. Abraham Lincoln to Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota?

Or is it business/politics as usual - ignore women - and only showcase male presidents?

Your views?

Vote for a female president who likes monolithic statuary?

there is no such office as First Lady.

And what if a married homosexual ever becomes President. First Honey Bunny? First Partner?

ruveyn

I wouldn't mind opening a discussion on adding people to Mt.Rushmore (it will never happen - politically it's a dead-ender, and the local native tribes already feel like sacred land has been desecrated), but the idea of adding women whose only qualifications were that they married famous men is just ludicrous. I'd rather see Harriet Tubman or Marie Curie up there than Mary Ann Lincoln

Seems to me that if a woman president had been extant in the period, and integral to the continuation or creation of the nation, she would have been up there with the rest. That seems to have been the criteria anyway. Its even possible that if a woman had played a recorded and integral part in this, she would be up there anyway, or immortalized in some fashion.

Ever heard of the Statue of Liberty?

Far more people have sailed past her than have trekked out to the Dakota wilderness to see the boys on Mt. Rushmore.

I think that more than evens it out for the ladies.

I believe it was mary todd lincoln. But I agree with you on every point.

By the way: we have had one bachelor president who who most historians agree probably was gay, and that was Buchanan ( the guy just before Lincoln). His sister served as first lady.

Of which actual person is the Statue of Liberty a representation?

I think you've kind of missed the point.

they proposed a bill in congress in 1937 to add susan b anthony to the memorial but they didn't have the money and stuck the original four. the sculptures were also supposed to be from the waist up but there wasn't enough money for that either. they spent just under a billion dollars to build this during the 30's.

the sculpture was started by Gutzon Borglum and finished by his son Lincoln Borglum.
Gutzon Borglum is the same sculpture that did the Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee, and Jefferson Davis into stone mountain in georgia. he was a member of the KKK.

as far as the first lady's go, i don't see the point in adding them .
the jefferson bothers me, as when he was president he asked specifically that no memorials or monuments be built to him. his wife would also be very very difficult as there is no known photo or painting of her.

The Statue of Liberty is the very image of Bartholdi's mom.

ruveyn

Extremely disagree for multiple reasons first of which being one of the major requirements is that you have had to have been a President of the United States. This idea quite honestly is like changing the Declaration of Independence in history textbooks to make it politically correct (which is what sparked the conservative backlash that was seen in the Texas Textbook battle (and for good reason)).

We shouldn't deface a national monument or historical texts just for political correctness, it is extremely disrespectful, arrogant, and intentionally provocative (in the form of insulting people).

Some of the women you have given did not do anything of historic value other than being married to a President. (Aside from Mrs. Roosevelt whom kept the country going while her husband fell ill and nobody knew about it until after President Roosevelt recovered).


The only people that legitimately could argue the face of a nonPresident being on that monument is the Native American Tribe that has some legit claim on Mt. Rushmore and their choice probably would be Crazy Horse. Until there is a Woman President of the United States and she passes away after being President, a woman shouldn't have her face carved on Mount Rushmore.

Same reason why Martin Luther King Jr. shouldn't have his face carved on that mountain, while he is deceased, he wasn't a President of the United States.

No, we shouldn't change Mt. Rushmore, but I don't think it's right to completely dismiss the fact that women have not been and still are not showcased the way men are.

The First Lady may not be an official office, but there is a lot of truth about the old saying - behind every man, there is a great woman. Just the last 3 alone, Hillary, Laura, and Michelle, have made significant contributions to the country and I'll bet their husbands would be the first ones the say that their wives' were often the reason for their successes. It may sound cliche, but it is also likely accurate.

Float that suggestion again when they have been dead for 20 years. No-one whom is currently living should have their face carved on Mt. Rushmore.

Okay, so what IS the point?

None of the first ladies the OP mentioned accomplished anything worthy of being commemorated.
Nor did he mention any of the many individual women in American history who DID achieve things worthy of commemoration. He didnt even mention Eleanor Roosevelt - the first first lady to achieve a president-like impact on society and the first first lady to possibly be considered a Rushmore contender.

SO "the point" is obviously NOT to commemorate actual achievements of actual people, but simply to put a female face on patriotism.


A mythic figure is perfectly fine for that purpose. Indeed better than faces of any of the actual wives of the Rushmore Presidents.

So the fact that Miss Liberty doesnt depict an actual individual is irrelevent to the point.

No. You don't change monuments. If someone wants to build a monument to women they can do it with their own money. Personally, making these politicians "godly" kinda makes me uncomfortable.

From a non American, and a woman to boot.

Wasn't Mount Rushmore the private passion of (I always thought) a talented autistic individual who pursued his special interest for a life time, and benefited the nation in doing so? Would people suggest changing other works of art... say changing the Mona Lisa because it reflects only a white woman... where are the native American men? Let's add them to the painting...

Mount Rushmore is a work of art by a single individual. Just like the Venus de Milo, or the Last Supper by Da Vinci. To change any of these three works of art to reflect modern pc trends would be vandalism.

Besides, you guys have the statue of liberty to greet all us huddled masses when we arrive... you're not exactly sexist. Though... thinking of it... that was the French. Hummm... perhaps you ought to have a French flag hanging from Lady Liberty? Or is that a step too pc?

In other words, stupid idea.