South Dakota: Monumental Hoopla

Monumental Hoopla

% You can't get any more monumental than Mount Rushmore: Abe Lincoln's face alone is three times the height of his statue in Washington. In a gigantic party last week, 3,500 revelers attended the 50th anniversary of the sculpture's completion. George Bush presided over a formal dedication ceremony and the launch of a $40 million fund-raising drive to renovate the memorial.

But not everyone was in a mood to celebrate. Environmentalists decry the busts as a desecration of nature. New Republic writer Alex Heard identified Gutzon Borglum, Rushmore's eccentric creator, as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. And the Sioux...

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