Did you know that Mt. Rushmore’s sculptor had Mormon roots--and that there’s a secret temple room just behind its Lincoln’s head? (OK, it’s not really a secret Mormon temple room, but its creator had Mormon links. Shhhhhh! Better keep that a secret because he also was happened to be a racist, a Confedrate sympathizer, a KKK supporter, an anti-Semite and divorced).

No wonder the Mormon Cult doesn’t strut his stuff.

But it’s that secret room that most people don’t know exists. Let's go there--and then on to the life and times of its creator, Brother John Gutzon Borglum.
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A. That Secret Rushmore Room Located Behind Lincoln's Head

--First, a youtube video, The Hidden Room Behind Abraham Lincoln's Face on Mount Rushmore," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmfHFhBn6wc://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmfHFhBn6wc


Followed by some articles:

--Article #1 (includes outside and inside photos)
:
“Yes, there absolutely is a secret, hidden room inaccessible to visitors at famed Mt. Rushmore. But what’s in it, and why is it off-limits?

“Ok, so the National Treasure movies aren’t exactly historically accurate, but there’s a sort-of half-truth that finds its way into ‘National Treasure 2.’ There REALLY IS a secret, inaccessible room tucked into the bedrock of Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Spoiler alert: it’s not filled with ancient treasures. Sorry.

“So then, what is this /secret room;’ who built it, and for what purpose?

“Well, it all starts with Mt. Rushmore designer Gutzon Borglum’s initial vision for the famed mountain carving.

“While we all know Mt. Rushmore as 4 shoulder-up busts of American presidents, Borglum initially designed Mt. Rushmore to feature each president all the way down to his waist. Another part of his grand design was a room carved deep into the mountain where we could store our country’s most sacred documents dubbed the 'Hall of Records.'

“Of course, we know Borglum wasn’t able to carve the presidents to their waists as intended, and sadly his Hall of Records never came to full fruition either.

“True to Borglum’s personality, he designed the Hall of Records to be quite over-the-top… It would feature a grand hall of nearly 8,000 square feet with an 800-ft stairway to access it. Inside, a giant bronze eagle would welcome visitors, and the walls would be lined with busts of notable patriots as well as lists of American accomplishments.

“Instead, the Hall of Records would amount to an unfinished dugout just behind Lincoln.

“The Hall of Records isn’t completely empty, though. In 1998, park officials placed a wooden box filled with porcelain panels featuring the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, a Borglum biography, and short bios on each president on Mt. Rushmore inside the Hall of Records.

“The box is guarded by a 3/4 ton slab of granite and the entire area is closed to the public.

“So the next time your kids watch 'National Treasure 2,' you can let them know there really is a secret room at Mt. Rushmore. It just happens to hold a box of porcelain panels, not a priceless treasure.

(“Nicolas Cage Was Right! There Is a Secret Room at Mt. Rushmore.” By Austin Coop, 20 February 2017, http://www.2laneamerica.com/secret-room-mt-rushmore/)


--Article #2 (with photos and a video):

‘It might be one of the most recognizable landmarks on the planet, but Mount Rushmore has been harboring a little-known secret for decades.

“Reported by The Sun, The enormous stone sculpture, showcasing the faces of US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, possesses a secret chamber which very few folks know about.

“The huge monument, located in South Dakota, has long been a staple landmark in adventure movies, but the uncovering of a hidden chamber demonstrates that the conspiracy surrounding the monument is more than just fiction.
 
"This secret room can be discovered behind the head of Abraham Lincoln, and was made to serve as a Hall of Records to tell the full account of the United States’ history.
During its development, from 1927-1941, the sculptor who fashioned the moment had intended to produce a much larger image to accompany the four famous faces poking out from the granite.


“But the man behind the monument, Gutzon Borglum, found that his plan for a huge stone image depicting American history was too complex, so he was forced to abandon his work on it.

“Rather, the government gave him authorization to start work on a Hall of Records – a undetectable chamber packed full of America’s most important paperwork.

“But Gutzon died before his record room could be finished, leaving the hall incomplete for decades.

“Nevertheless, in the late 1990s, the project was given a new lease of life, and the chamber room was eventually completed, before being stocked with panels featuring the American history, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

“Touchingly, a biography of Gutzon Borglum was likewise put in the room, before it was all locked in a titanium vault.
“There are expectations that, thousands of years from today, a future society will stumble across the vault and learn more about American history.

“Tourists seeking to visit the secret room will be unhappy nevertheless, as the chamber is far too difficult to reach on foot."

("What a Rush! Take a Look Inside the Secret Hidden Room in Mount Rushmore: The discovery of a well-concealed hidden chamber proves that the intrigue surrounding the huge monument, in South Dakota, is more than just fiction," by George Harrison, "The Sun," 6 February 2017,https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/1285937/take-a-look-inside-room-in-mount-rushmore/)


--Article #3 (with photos and a video):

"Since taking office, President Donald Trump has reignited a debate about what it means to be American.

"But many Americans might not know the secret behind one of the country's most iconic political monuments.

"Enter: The 'Hall of Records' at Mount Rushmore.

"Where the frontal lobe of Abraham Lincoln's brain would be, there is a secret room that contains the text of America's most important documents. It sounds like something out of 'National Treasure' (or, more fittingly, 'Richie Rich') but the Hall of Records is a legitimate historical repository.

"Conceived in the 1930s by the monument's designer, Gutzon Borglum, the Hall was designed to be a vault for a selection of documents chronicling America's history.

"Borglum envisioned an 800-foot stairway leading to a grand hall, measuring 80 feet by 100 feet, behind the presidents' faces. Above the entrance to the hall would hang a bronze eagle, with a wingspan of 38 feet. The hall would contain busts of famous Americans and a list of US contributions to science, art, and industry, according to the National Park Service.

"Unfortunately, Borglum died in 1941, so he never got to see that vision come to life. More than 50 years later, in 1998, monument officials revived the sculptor's dream of installing a record of the country's history inside the Hall.

"Today, sealed behind a 1,200-pound granite slab and tucked inside a wooden box are the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, a biography of Borglum, and short descriptions of each of the presidents featured on the monument. The text of each document is carved into a series of porcelain enamel panels.

"Sadly, the Hall is closed to the public (the half-ton slab probably already gave that away). The closest anyone can get is the ruin-like doorway, which recedes several feet into the mountain. It's nestled behind a rocky outcropping to the right of Lincoln's head.


"The present-day Hall doesn't contain any of the intricate designs Borglum originally envisioned for its walls: carved descriptions of America's greatest moments, surrounded by massive illustrations of the Louisiana Purchase.

"At least, as far as we know. Maybe Nicolas Cage knows something we don't."

("There's a Secret Room inside Mount Rushmore that Stores Important US Documentsm" by Chris Weller, "Business Insider," 1 February 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/mount-rushmore-secret-room-hall-of-records-2017-2)


--Article #4 (with photo and a video):

"In the 14 years he spent planning, sculpting, and overseeing the completion of the Mount Rushmore monument, artist Gutzon Borglum harbored a deep concern. He worried that his creation—one that used a 400-foot-long by 500-foot-wide rock canvas to depict the faces of four influential U.S. presidents—would one day be shrouded in mystery.

"After all, Borglum reasoned, what did we really know about Stonehenge? Or Egyptian pyramids? Civilizations could rise and fall while Rushmore stood, its origins getting more clouded with time.

"To make sure people in the future knew the history of his project and the meaning behind it, Borglum announced an ambitious addition: a massive room situated just behind Abraham Lincoln’s hairline that would contain all the information anyone would ever need about the mountain. It would even house major historical artifacts like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"Borglum called it the 'Hall of Records.' In 1938, he had workers begin blasting away with dynamite, carving what he wanted to be the most elaborate artist’s signature ever conceived.

"The loud, brazen Borglum was born in 1867—at least, that’s the best information we’ve got. He enjoyed obfuscating his history, mixing and matching facts for his own amusement. A talented artist, Borglum thought he’d have a career in painting. When he saw his brother, Solon, making a reputation as a sculptor, sibling rivalry kicked in, and Borglum found he had even more to offer while working in clay.

"After a modestly sized bust of Lincoln garnered Borglum national attention, he was invited to carve the faces of Confederate soldiers into Stone Mountain in Georgia. That work—which was never completed due to disagreements with local government—attracted the attention of Doane Robinson, South Dakota’s official state historian. Robinson told Borglum that a monument in the Black Hills of the state could be an excellent canvas for a work on a grand scale; in return, the state’s tourism statistics might flourish.

"Borglum was intrigued. After scouting three mountains, he began to dwell on the possibilities present at Mount Rushmore. To draw national attention, he would focus on four presidents who had a tremendous impact on the country: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt. Each man would be depicted down to his waist. Alongside Washington would be a massive inscription detailing major events in U.S. history.

"The actual carving began in 1927, with 30 men working at a time to blast rock with dynamite. The U.S. government subsidized most of the cost of labor, which would eventually amount to nearly $1 million.

"As they doled out money, South Dakota and the federal backers were most concerned with Borglum etching the six-story tall faces into the east side of the mountain. But Borglum’s attention was diverted: as ambitious as the project was, he imagined something even greater. He wanted a room accessible to visitors that would have tablets explaining the work done, as well as busts of famous Americans and key documents like the Declaration of Independence. Those looking for admittance would climb an 800-foot-long staircase made from the blasted rock, then pass under a gold-plated eagle with a 38-foot wingspan.

"The room began to take shape in 1938, when Borglum finally started blasting out an opening. A doorway 18 feet tall led to a room 75 feet long and 35 feet tall; red paint on the walls told workers where and how to extract the rock. Holes that housed the sticks of dynamite created a honeycomb effect.

"Borglum’s ambition wasn’t shared by the government, which had a limited amount of funds to allocate and considered the room frivolous. South Dakota state senator Peter Norbeck wanted to help, and offered relief workers to assist in constructing the staircase. That way, federal funds wouldn’t have to be tapped.

"Borglum, however, didn’t warm to the idea. He got a percentage of those federal funds, and using relief labor wouldn’t put any money in his pocket. He pushed the senator away in the belief he could grease the necessary wheels.

"Borglum’s self-confidence may have been his downfall. Governor William Bulow told him that finishing the faces was of the utmost priority, and that any ancillary work could be ignored until later. Any miner could blast a hole in the mountain—it took an artist to conceive of the actual sculpture.

"Despite Borglum’s insistence he was in perfect health, Bulow’s urgency turned out to have merit. Borglum died in March 1941, leaving the Hall of Records unfinished.

"With money and time at a premium, the government declared the monument more or less complete on Halloween 1941. Borglum’s ambition for a signature room would be costly, and no more work was done. It remains inaccessible to tourists.

"His family wouldn’t drop the matter so easily. For decades, Borglum’s descendants petitioned the government to complete the room in honor of his work. Finally, in 1998, family members were able to assemble in the room and oversee a deposit of several porcelain tablets that explained the work done to the mountain. Lowered into a hole in the floor of the room, it was topped with a 1200 pound capstone. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial Society paid for the ceremony, which represented Borglum's posthumous completion of his landmark piece of art.

"One of the tablets contains Borglum’s intention for both the mountain and the room inside of it:

"'I want, somewhere in America, on or near the Rockies, the backbone of the Continent, so far removed from succeeding, selfish, coveting civilizations, a few feet of stone that bears witness, carries the likeness, the dates, a word or two of the great things we accomplished as a Nation, placed so high it won't pay to pull them down for lesser purposes.

"'Hence, let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and rain alone shall wear them away.'"


("The Hidden Room Behind Mount Rushmor,"e BY Jake Rossen,"Mental Floss," 20 January 2017, http://mentalfloss.com/article/91207/hidden-room-behind-mount-rushmore)

**********



--What follows is what the Mormon Cult would really like to hide about John Gutzon Borghum (and it's not the hidden room he built inside Lincoln's Mount Rushmore head). By the way, here's what he looked like:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/stone/images/sm_p7.jpg


The last article cited above falsely claims that "the best information we've got [about] [t]he loud, brazen Borglum [is that he] was born in 1867," adding, "He enjoyed obfuscating his history, mixing and matching facts for his own amusement."

Sounds like how the Mormon Cult approaches history.

Here's inconvenient historical stink about Borglum that doesn't get promoted by LDS Inc.

That doesn't mean, though, the boastful Mormon members are unwilling to link Mt. Rushmore with their church. On a LDS-friendly blog is displayed a photograph of four ranking, LDS patriarchal leaders, taken at a Church Regional Conference in New York City in September 1986, Three of the men in the photograph are General Authorities: First Presidency Counselor in the Ezra Taft Benson regime, Gordon B. Hinckley; Quorum of the Twelve Apostle, Neal A. Maxwell; and First Quorum of the Seventy member, Derek A. Cuthbert (the latter who, by the way, died during the 1991 Mormon General Conference). The remaining person in the photograph was initially identified on the site only as "the current stake president of the New York, New York Stake at the time. I cannot remember his name, but might if given enough time" (That man was subsequently identified by a helpful site reader as Michael K. Young).

Here's the kicker: The Mormon Cult member posting the photograph dubbed it, "Mount Rushmore of the East, 1986."

("Mount Rushmore of the East, 1986," posted by Ardis E. Marshall, 24 May 2010, at: http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2012/05/24/mount-rushmore-of-the-east-1986/)


Since Mormons appear eager to associate their priesthood power-brokers with the presiding national heads carved atop Mount Rushmore, they may be interested in knowing that the person who sculpted that edifice--John Gutzon Borglum (Gutzon Borglum, for short)--was born into a Mormon polygamous family.

Faithful Mormons may also be interested to learn that, in addition to being born in the covenant, Borglum joined the Ku Klux Klan; designed a monument honoring Confederate war heroes (which inspired him in his design of Mount Rushmore); was an anti-Semite and was divorced.

OK, brothers and sisters, everybody lean in close around Brother Borglum and smile for the picture!

For those here who may not be all that familiar with the man behind the mountain, below is some life history on Brother Borglum (quoted from various sources, referenced and linked at the end).
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--Borglum's Mormon Roots Through His Polygamy-Practicing Pop

As a Danish Mormon immigrant, Borglum’s father had two wives. As a child raised in a over-crowded household by his step-mother (due to his father having eventually abandoned Borglum’s birth mother in favor of his second wife), Borglum had an unpleasant childhood:

“John Gutzon Borglum . . . was born March 25, 1867, into a Mormon family which practiced polygamy. His father had two wives but when he decided to not be a Mormon anymore, he discarded Gutzon's mother and the boy was raised, along with eight other children in the family, by his step-mother. He had an unhappy childhood and tried to run away numerous times.”

To be more specific, Borglum was born into a home where his father was actually married to two women at the same time--who also happened to be in-line family sisters:

“According to his own 1921 account, . . . Borglum was born ‘west of Bear Lake, up in the mountains’ [in the Idaoho Territory], the son of the second of two sisters who married a Danish Mormon woodcarver. He was still a child when his family departed [the] Idaho Territory, first for Utah, then Nebraska."

No doubt, this bizarre Mormon-bred life had some kind of life-long influence on the boy:

“ . . . Borglum’s father . . . was married to Borglum’s mother and her sister. Their life in Idaho and Utah was accommodating, but when they moved to Nebraska, Borglum’s dad decided to restructure his family to fit in better. He divorced Borglum’s mom but stayed married to his aunt. It’s hard to know how this influenced the young man, but as an adult he was very independent with an ego as big as a mountain."

That makes sense. The Mormon Church ego is bigger than Kolob.

It should not be surprising that Borglum reworked his family tree lineage in his favor (just like he reworked the Black Hills to the Native Americans's disfavor), but the following probably represents an accurate summation of his early years:

“. . . Borglum liked to tinker with his own legend, subtracting a few years from his age, changing the story of his parentage. The best archival research has revealed that he was born in 1867 to one of the wives of a Danish Mormon bigamist. When his father decided to conform to societal norms that were pressing westward with the pioneers, he abandoned Gutzon's mother and remained married to his first wife, her sister."
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--Discarding Mormon Baggage in Pursuit of Freedom and Marriage

Young Borglum’s unhappy home life drove him to separate from his family, which also led to his first marriage to--and eventual divorce from--a divorcee who was nearly two decades ahead of him in age. His relationship with this woman, who was regarded as as “accomplished" artist in her own right, quickly “turned personal and they were married in 1889 when Borglum was 22 years old.”

But the union was headed for the rocks as professional competition between the two became an increasing problem:

“In 1884, when Gutzon was 16, [his] family moved to Los Angeles. His father, unhappy in California, soon returned to Nebraska but Gutzon stayed behind. He studied art and met Elizabeth Jaynes Putnam, a painter and divorcee 18 years his senior. . . . The Borglums traveled to Paris to work and study, and there Gutzon met sculptor Auguste Rodin. . . . Gutzon's talent was immediately apparent and he found a few commissions . . . . At the same time, Gutzon's marriage was falling apart.”

The reason given for the widening rift was that “[a]s Borglum’s career started to out shine, his wife’s, the marriage suffered.” A second marriage followed: “He left Paris alone in 1901 and aboard ship met Mary Montgomery, an American who had just completed her doctorate at the University of Berlin,” and who, in fact, “was one of the first two women to ever earn a doctorate in Berlin and had mastered six languages.” She also happened to be “a younger woman” who was likewise returning stateside. “[Borglum] respected her intelligence and passion and the balance she brought to his life. Finally, in 1909, Putnam granted Borglum a divorce and he and Montgomery were married.” They settled in Connecticut, where “[t]hey bought a house and farm . . . and named it ‘Borgland.’" Within a few years, their son, Lincoln, was born, “followed by a daughter, Mary Ellis.”
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--Member and Friend of the Ku Klux Klan

Decades after his death, a controversy erupted in Borglum’s home state of Idaho when a local civic group in Boise decided to induct him into their state “Hall of Fame.” When Borglum’s promoters were informed that he had once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, the response was as follows: 1) nobody’s perfect; 2) he probably had good reason to don the hood and, 3) Mount Rushmore rakes in revenue.

The press reported the flap thusly;

“. . . A private group. . . has elevated Mount Rushmore sculptor and one-time Ku Klux Klan member, Gutzon Borglum, to its 2010 class of honorees.

“Borglum, born in Idaho Territory in 1867, chiseled the monumental heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt in the granite of South Dakota's Black Hills.

“In the mid-1920s, Borglum was also in the Klan.

“Some historians speculate that Borglum--by most accounts a complex, ambitious and difficult figure--joined the KKK to secure financing for a Confederate monument at Georgia's Stone Mountain that he never completed. Others say he was a ‘prairie populist’ with anti-Semitic tendencies who hoped the KKK would help advance his political aspirations.

“Dallas Cox, Idaho Hall of Fame president, said she knew only that Borglum was the man whose labors in South Dakota today draw 2,000,000 visitors annually. . . . ‘Oh my gosh, you're kidding?’ Cox told the ‘Associated Press’ upon learning of Borglum's KKK ties. ‘Well, I'll bet if we sat down and took every one of the inductees since 1995, you could find something on every one of them. That's not our goal. It's to be able to recognize the person for their accomplishments.’ . . .

“Still, honoring a former Ku Klux Klan member in Idaho--until 2001 home to the Aryan Nations white supremacist group--might raise a few eyebrows. . . .

“[Museum historians] Howard and Audrey Shaff . . . detailed Borglum's Klan ties in ‘Six Wars at a Time'--their 1985 book about the artist--including a passage highlighting his attendance at a Klan strategy meeting in 1923 in Washington, D.C., and friendship with Grand Dragon, D.C. Stephenson, a convicted murderer. . . .

“’There was much about the KKK that appealed to [Borglum] and much he did not like but, above all, he saw a malleable organization that could be turned into a powerful political force strong enough to make national policy,’ [the Shaffs] wrote.

“ . . . [E]mployees at the [Mount Rushmore] visitors center who weren't authorized to speak publicly said they get queries about Borglum's Ku Klux Klan ties only ‘once in a blue moon.’ . . .

“Cox, of the Idaho Hall of Fame, says knowing Borglum was once in the KKK doesn't sway her from adding his name to her group's list of notable Idahoans.

"’We can focus on the negative all day,’ Cox said. ‘As far as I'm concerned, we're focusing on the accomplishments.’”
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--Sculptor of Monuments to Slavery-Defending Confederate War Heroes

Borglum’s rise to ultimate Rushmore reverence came, in its beginnings, to help from another civic organization--the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

From media reports:

“[Historians Howard and Audrey Shaff] . . . wrote that Borglum's immediate concern during the 1920s was securing several million dollars he needed for the Confederate monument at Stone Mountain near Atlanta. It was commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy--‘and the KKK was offering to help raise the money,’ the Shaffs wrote.”

Borglum’s connections to 20th-century Confederate sympathizers, however, appears to be an inconvenient truth that the U.S. government doesn’t feel a need to address:

“His education included studying with sculptor Auguste Rodin in Paris; [and] some of his works were displayed at Windsor Castle for Queen Victoria, according to a National Park Service that mentions his successes, though not his KKK ties. . . .

“Though he never finished the monument of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis on Georgia's Stone Mountain where he joined the Klan, historians say that experience eventually resulted in Borglum winning the job at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota starting in 1927.” (Note: Borglum also did not see Mount Rushmore finished, dying in Chicago in 1941).


Ironically, what caught the attention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Borglum's behalf, was his work--which included his famous bust of the notorious Confederacy-buster, Abraham Lincoln.

As one biography notes:

“Borglum's major work included a bust of Abraham Lincoln, which he was able to exhibit in Theodore Roosevelt's White House." Another source reports that during this time, "Borglum [was growing] increasingly famous as he developed his own style of 'American' art” and that his Lincoln bust brought him "[h]is greatest notoriety" to date. That bust is currently on display in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

Indeed, Borglum’s bust of Abe enabled him to design his Stone Mountain monument to the Confederacy:

"It was Borglum’s bust of Lincoln that led to his first mountain carving. He was invited by the Daughters of the Confederacy to carve a bust of Robert E. Lee in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Upon visiting the site, he declared that doing just the head of Lee would be as impressive as a postage stamp on a barn door. Instead, he created a design of a more appropriate scale that incorporated Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson on horseback in front of a row of soldiers. He started carving the piece in 1923 with chisels and jackhammers until he learned the art of using dynamite for detail work from a Belgian engineer.”

It was during the creation of his stone sacrament to Southern slavery that Borglum was initiated into the ranks of the Klan. While a member of the KKK working on his Stone Mountain monument, he learned techniques of the trade (such as using dynamite) that served him well in sculpting the White Men on Rushmore.

Efforts by apologists to minimize Borglum's association with the KKK have been persistent over the years.

An example:

“Borglum joined the Ku Klux Klan while he was developing this [Confederate monument] project. It’s not clear if he did it as an expression of his core beliefs or to patronize the backers. He was known to shun anyone who could not directly help him through money or influence. Borglum’s artistic temperament clashed with the patrons and he was kicked off the job. Another artist was hired to complete the monument and ultimately none of Borglum’s work survived. He did benefit from the work he did, however, by developing techniques he used on later projects [like for Rushmore]."

The fact remains, however, that official support and assistance for Borglum’s monument-building efforts from the United Daughters of the Confederacy served to pave the way for his introduction to the KKK, as well as grease the skids for his eventual rise to Rushmore:

"The Lincoln portrait and other much-admired works gave Borglum a national reputation and he was invited by Helen Plane of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to carve a bust of Robert E. Lee on Stone Mountain in Georgia. Borglum's conception was bigger than Plane's and Stone Mountain became his first mountain-carving project--and where Borglum developed some of the techniques that would later be used on Rushmore.

“While at Stone Mountain, Borglum became associated with the newly-reborn Ku Klux Klan. Whether this accorded with a racist world view or if it was simply one way to bond with some of his patrons on the Stone Mountain project, is unclear.”

There's that "unclear" word again. Below is further effort to rationalize Borglum’s unsettling ties to a pro-Confederacy organization for whom he began a major piece of work glorifying the cause of the Civil-War South:

“Frankly, Borglum had little time for anyone--White or Black--who was not a Congressman or millionaire, or happened to be in his way. There is no indication, for example, that he treated his long-suffering Black chauffeur Charlie Johnson any differently than any White employee--he owed him back pay just like everyone else. Stone Mountain was not finished by Borglum, but it inspired his next job: Mount Rushmore.”

The record is nonetheless clear that Borglum’s work for Confederacy boosters in Georgia put him on the map for his biggest project of them all in South Dakota:

"While Borglum was working on Stone Mountain, the state historian from South Dakota [Doane Robinson] tempted him with the idea of creating a sculpture in the mountains of the Black Hills.

“When [Robinson] read about Stone Mountain, he invited Borglum out to the Black Hills of South Dakota to create a monument there. Borglum, perhaps realizing that Stone Mountain had only regional support, immediately suggested a national subject for Rushmore: Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson were added to the program soon afterward. Borglum had met and campaigned for Roosevelt and by invoking that president's acquisition of the Panama Canal and Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, the Rushmore monument became a story of the expansion of the United States, the embodiment of Manifest Destiny."

So, in pursuit of his own destiny, Borglum headed for the Black Hills, where the rest became White Mountain Man history:

“[Seeing] the potential for more national recognition than the Georgia project afforded him, . . . he agreed to the challenge and uprooted his family, moving them to Keystone, South Dakota. . . . Borglum began carving the mountain in 1927 when he was 60 years old. . . . . . [He was] responsible for creating the model and picking the site for the carving."
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--A Curious Anti-Semite Who Hated Hitler, Yet Claimed Jewish Friends While Looking to the KKK for National Political Support

Borglum’s life was a confusing construction of conflicts, as noted by scholars who have chronicled it:

“Martin Luschei, professor emeritus of English at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California, who wrote about Borglum in his 2007 book, 'The Black Hills and the Indians,’ concluded the sculptor was a man of contradictions--nn anti-Semite with powerful Jewish friends, a former Klan member who blasted Adolf Hitler after the Nazi leader came to power in the 1930s.

"’Borglum denounced Hitler, to the point where Hitler destroyed a statute of Borglum's (of Woodrow Wilson) in Poland,’ Luschei told the 'Associated Press.'

"’You can't categorize him simply,’ Luschei said. ‘He also had this political power drive. He was sort of a “prairie populist.” He thought the Jews were controlling the situation and I think he thought the Klan would give him power that he might even have been able to use to get to the presidency.’"
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--Invader of Native American Territory; Destroyer of Native American Heritage

For all the acclaim Borglum has received over the years for his mountain-sized White American fantasy at the expense of Native American dignity, not everyone has been impressed. As one reader noted in response to a selectively-presented Borglum biography:

“Sad to learn that Gutzon Borglum . . . invaded Sioux territory to blast granite to sculpt the most spectacular wonder-monument on Mount Rushmore--which [was] part of the Black Hills, stolen from Mother Nature. A White hypocrisy message for all to see. That is what I see.”

Borglum’s Mount Rushmore came at an historical cost to both broader justice and personal reputation:

“. . . [L]ike so many episodes in the saga of the American West, what began as a personal dream had to be bailed out by the federal government, a compromise that nearly drove Borglum mad. Nor in the end could he control how his masterpiece would be received. Nor its devastating impact on the Lakota Sioux and the remote Black Hills of South Dakota."
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--An Ego to Rival Rushmore Ended Up Biting the Hand That Fed Him

Borglum was a man full of both enormous creative energy and self-defeating faults. His vigorous yet volatile nature has been depicted as follows:

“Work on the ['Rushmore'] mountain was not constantly supervised by Borglum. When he was at Rushmore, Borglum would be climbing all over the mountain and all over the hills to determine the best angle for each feature, and advising the carvers on how to create the nuanced details that might not even be visible from below.“ Borglum's demanding eye for detail meant that “[d]uring the sculpting he was often more supervisory than hands-on.” Note eas also made that “[w]hen he returned to the Dakotas, a rock might have been roughly blasted into an egg shape and he would be back to looking over every detail.” Experience demonsrated that his return always meant “he would resume micromanaging the workers.“

Borglum’s perfectionistic impulse ended up creating problems with those on whom he depended for support in his Rushmore enterprise:

“John Boland was chairman of the Mount Rushmore executive committee and responsible for all the finances on the project. He was both a friend and nemesis to Borglum. When money became tight for the artist, it was Boland who guaranteed bank loans so he could keep his home. On occasion, the businessman even kept Borglum afloat with a personal loan. But Borglum didn’t like being beholden to anyone. He fired some of the best workers and frequently butted heads with Boland, always insisting on doing things his way. These clashes led to a rift in their relationship. Eventually, however, their wives intervened and conspired to effect a successful reconciliation between the two men."

As noted, however, efforts to patch things up didn’t always work, given Borglum’s massive sense of self-importance:

“Borglum's stubborn insistence on having things done his way led to numerous confrontations with . . . Boland . . . . His temper and perfectionism caused him to fire his best workmen (who then had to be hired back by Borglum's son, Lincoln). Borglum's ambition and hubris motivated him to recreate a landscape in his image (a tableau of prominent White men) rather than for the Native Americans who held the Black Hills sacred. Borglum was stubborn, insistent, temperamental, perfectionist, high-reaching and proud--but these were also the characteristics that were required to carve a mountain. Big, brash, almost larger than life, only a man like Gutzon Borglum could have conceived of and created the monument on Mount Rushmore.”

On other occasions, Borglum would suddenly make himself scarce as he dove for extended periods into other endeavors that consumed him:

". . . [A]fter creating the [Rushmore] models, siting the sculpture and developing methods for transferring the image to the mountain and carving the rock, there were long periods during which Borglum's presence was not required. He would often leave his assistants, including his son Lincoln, to supervise the work and then travel.

“He would go to Washington, D.C., to lobby for more money . . . . or to Europe to work on other commissioned projects.” Some of these projects included a molding “a Thomas Paine (for Paris) and a Woodrow Wilson (for Poland), and meeting politicians and celebrities such as Helen Keller.' Meeting notables like the visually-impaired Keller fed Borglum’s insatiable ego:

“Helping her feel pieces by his old friend Rodin, he recalled her comment: ‘Meeting you is like a visit from the gods.’ He sometimes felt the same way about himself, writing in his journal: ‘I must see, think, feel and draw in Thor's dimension’).”

On top of all this mountainous hubris, Borglum's ego was further fed by the opportunities he had for audience with U.S. presidents. Due, however, to his bulldoggisly belligerent and bulldozer approach, he didn’t always have their ear:

“He was outspoken about his political opinions and tried to wield some celebrity influence by campaigning for [Theodore] Roosevelt’s reelection in 1912. During the Wilson administration, Borglum--in a departure from his usual focus-- investigated malpractices in aircraft manufacture and reported his findings directly to President Wilson. Borglum and the president disagreed about how the artist became involved in such an investigation, and their dispute became public. Borglum was [so] adamant that President Wilson specifically appointed him to the task and published letters in the 'New York Times' defending his involvement. The president, in letters to Borglum and the Secretary of War which the White House also released to the ‘New York Times,’ tried to distance himself from Borglum, appreciating his discoveries but apparently not wanting to be linked too closely to the man.“

Through it all and through his life, Borglum functioned under the grandiose notion that his work was destined to survive the ages (no doubt, the Sioux of the Black Hills had contrary desires):

“. . . [He] . . hoped that 10,000 years from now, when archaeologists came upon the four 60-foot presidential heads carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they would have a clear and graphic understanding of American civilization. . . .

“. . . [Borglum] had an almost Ahab-like obsession with Colossalism--a scale that matched his ego and the era. He learned how to be a celebrity from Auguste Rodin; [and] how to be a political bully from Teddy Roosevelt. He ran with the Ku Klux Klan and mingled with the rich and famous from Wall Street to Washington. Mount Rushmore was to be his crowning achievement, the newest wonder of the world, the greatest piece of public art since Phidias carved the Parthenon."

What a monumental piece of work this fellow was.
_____


--Death and Legacy

John Gutzon Borglum was born to a polygamous Mormon father who had two wives that happened to be nuclear-family sisters. His father jettisoned his first wife in favor of his second (who was Borglum’s aunt). Borglum was thereafter raised by this step-mother until age 16, when he fled his dysfunctional family, whereupon he first married a woman 18 years older than himself, eventually divorcing her for a younger woman whose intelligence he admired and whose youth he desired. He studied in Paris under Rodin and achieved fame in the United States with his works that found places of honor in the White House. He held court with American presidents and gave them piece after piece of his mind--then became openly exasperated when they wouldn’t take what he so greatly gave them.

Along the way, Borglum was a member of the Ku Klux Klan; a partner with Confederate sympathizers in fashioning monuments to Southern Civil War generals and later, to White American presidents; a person infected with anti-Semitic views; and the creator of a massive sculpture sitting lands stolen from the Native Americans,

But all grand things must come to an end:

“On March 6, 1941 [at the age of 74], Borglum died, following complications after surgery. His son finished another season at Rushmore but left the monument largely in the state of completion it had reached under his father's direction. . . . [T]he monument basically remained the way his father left it.”

“[His life] proves that the best American stories are not simple; they are complex and contradictory, at times humorous, at other times tragic.”

True enough. Especially the tragic Mormon part.
_____


Sources:

--“Gutzon Borglum: Sculptor, Mount Rushmore, 1867–1941,;” see also "Page Comments," 19 October 2011, at: http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdborg.htm

--Synopsis of John Taliaferro’s “Great White Fathers: The True Story of Gutzon Borglum and His Obsessive Quest to Create the Mount Rushmore National Monument,” at: http://www.amazon.com/Great-White-Fathers-Obsessive-Rushmore/dp/158648205X

--“Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941): Sculptor of Mount Rushmore,” in “Forgotten Newsmakers,” at: http://forgottennewsmakers.com/2010/08/03/gutzon-borglum-1867-1941-sculptor-of-mount-rushmore/;

--“Mount Rushmore Sculptor's Idaho Award Draws Renewed Look at KKK Ties,” by John Miller, “Associated Press,” 6 July 2010, at: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/mount-rushmore-sculptor-s-idaho-award-draws-renewed-look-at/article_12400dd2-88f5-11df-9ad1-001cc4c03286.html

--“Biography: Gutzon Borglum,” in “WGBH American Experience,” Public Broadcasting System, at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/rushmore-borglum/

********


Mormons will, of course, shrug this all off by saying it's making a mountain out of a molehill. Takes one to know one. After all, that's what they themselves did with the molehill they call Cumorah.

We can do it with the their bigot we call Borglum.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 10:37AM by steve benson.

Steve I think it is unhelpful when we fail to judge people within the context of the time in which they lived. Sadly these were not extreme views in the time which he lived. Perhaps it is more a reflection of society's mores during the time in which he lived.

A good example is this quote (one of many) by Ghandi made in July 3, 1907

“Kaffirs (a derogatory term for black people) are as a rule uncivilised – the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals. Each ward contains nearly 50 to 60 of them. They often started rows and fought among themselves. The reader can easily imagine the plight of the poor Indian thrown into such company!”

I think your greater challenge is to find "great" historical figures of any religion who would have a "squeeky clean" record when measured within today's context. I am aware of the counter argument that says truth exists independent of time and that God's truly annointed should be enlightened accordingly. I hold a slightly different view in that I am quite comfortable in the fact that the church is not perfect. Like each of us we grow line upon line and precept upon precept. God is a patient God. In the same way that he prepared his people with the law of moses etc. he reveals him over time to all of us, including his leaders. This then natrually extends to that which they lead.

There is no scriptural basis to the notion that prophets have ever been perfect or that the church itself is a perfect institution. Have prophets said things that were flawed? Yes. It has always been that way. From Adam to whoever comes last. Mormon "culture" has contributed to the flawed notion that prophets are infallible and people latch on to it when they discover that they are not. But they never have been.

We live in a world obsessed with certainty. Nothing about religion is perfectly certain. Each of us need to choose to believe or not to believe. It is a concious decision. Neither position can be definatively "proven". People can trade selected facts all day long but ultimately its a choice to have faith or not to have faith. I guess we will only know for certain when we go to the other side (or never if it fades into black!).

I guess the difficulty that I have with some of the comments posted on this site is how many "unbelievers" and "believers" hold their positions "without a shadow of doubt" when the very language of faith requires submission within uncertainty.

That was an impressive rant. Hopefully you have regained your breath by now. It was a wonderful philosophical thesis however sadly we are required to live in reality. Please advise which person/s - dead or alive- who have lived up to your stated principals (other than yourself of course). Your theory works when it only requires you to point out the non-conformances.

For starters, you don't know the method of posting here, given that, as a self-confessed newbie, you didn't indent your hysterical holiness under your target's commentary. You left it out there to hang alone--and to hang yourself. That's what you get for coming here under the false pretenses of "holy-moly"ness and then proceeding to stumble-bumble for the whole board to see.

Second, talk about a "rant" (your word), you initially posted your TBM tirade twice (exactly word-for-word in both cases).

From there, when challenged, you unimpressively refused to historically recognize, personally acknowledge or meaningfully express regret over the reality of the Mormon-heritaged Mt. Rushmore sculptor's noxious racial bias, his bigoted membership in the Ku Klux Klan, his sickening support of the southern Confederacy, and his disgusting White supremacist desecration of Native American lands. Rather, you were all into defending the LDS Cult.

Dishonest Mormon types like you aren't into the real world.

Honest ex-Mormons aren't into you.

Back into Mormon Gospel Doctrine class you go, since you've already acknowledged on this board having served as a Mormon bishop, while giving no indication that you've actually left the LDS Cult:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2017254,2017989#msg-2017989


And, by the way, what do you know about principles? Apparently, not much, since you spelled it "principals." ( http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2018242,2018268#msg-2018268 ) Back into elementary school you go--and may the principal there have mercy on your soul.



Edited 25 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2017 08:13AM by steve benson.

I have two points to make regarding your response to SB:

1. You wrote,

>
> I hold a slightly different view in that I am quite
> comfortable in the fact that the church is not perfect. Like
> each of us we grow line upon line and precept upon precept.
> God is a patient God. In the same way that he prepared his
> people with the law of moses etc. he reveals him over time
> to all of us, including his leaders. This then natrually
> extends to that which they lead.
>

I view the above as tripe, as nothing more than an after-the-fact excuse, uttered when necessary, i.e., when the hand is caught in the cookie jar.

2.
>
> There is no scriptural basis to the notion that prophets
> have ever been perfect or that the church itself is a
> perfect institution.
>

There are old sayings that get trotted out when the coast is relatively clear:

"The people aren't perfect, but the church is"

and

“The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.”

The list of items the prophets, from Joseph Smith to what's his name today, have gotten wrong is heartening to anyone who wants his progeny to escape from mormonism.

This particular combatant for the LDS Curriculum Christ is in unfamiliar territory, unable to post properly, relying on tired and tattered Mormon arguments that even vicarious baptism can't bring back from the dead, over their dead-head in the font of floundering faith and sinking fast. It happens to the worst of them.

This shameless apologist insists on being "quite comfortable" in making excuses for Mormon prophet fakery. (Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, testifying troll). In actuality, it's simply another classic and predictable case of desperate, protesting-too-much self-talk designed to assuage their own hidden doubts. Notice how they don't even address the historically-established bigotry of the Mormon-rooted sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. They can't, so their only recourse is to try to try to change the subject.

I predict this sweaty, nervous Mormon troll will eventually end up leaving the sweaty, nervous Mormon Cult.



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 05:01AM by steve benson.

. . . I came across "Holy Moly's" personal confession that he's a former LDS bishop who wasn't into denying Mormon teens dance-card entrance based on personal worthiness.

( see http://exmormon.org/phorum/search.php?2,search=,author=holy+moly,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=30,match_forum=2,match_threads=0 and, specifically,
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2017254,2017989#msg-2017989 )

So, there is hope for the wandering son. :) This simply confirms my initial assessment that, eventually, "Holy Moly" will be doing the unholy-rolly right out of Mormonism. Rough-stone rolling can be rough, so hang in there, "HM."



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2017 03:19AM by steve benson.

Using that kind of "logic," we therefore shouldn't harshly judge and certainly not forcefully condemn, for instance, the Mormon Cults's "divinely-inspired prophets" for piously preaching and destructively demanding unfailing, ever-fsithful devotion to racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-science doctrines in the name of their rabid and rancid imaginary god because, hey, that disgusting deity is simply a reflection of the primitive, unenlightened and backward social, cultural, political and religious superstitions and immoralities of the day.

The fact of the matter is that these benighted attitudes and actions form the core "creative" impulses for inventing gods that regressivively represent, repugnantly re-enforce and noxiously "normalize" the prevailing prejudices, mindsets and largely patriarchal power grabs operating in the world of the territorial impulses of a given point in time, place, perception and perspective.

Rotten seeds produce both rotten fruit and rotten results, given that the inception of these insidious ideas are rooted in selfish, dishonest and manipulative endeavors to control, cajole and condemn others in a quest for undeserved, damnable dominance and superiority.

As a general rule, religions don't lead the historically- or socially-evolving parade; rather, they follow the larger trends in traditional society, where they are relentlessly reinforced, ostensibly revered, dishonestly declared the to be divinely disseminated and abusively imposed on others in pursuit of institutional advantage and protection foisted on others in the name of "revelation"--all at the expense of individual freedom, choice and integrity.

If one were to follow your rationalizations then, hell, let's cut all religious movements and their leaders/followers a constant break because, after all, it takes them a such a long and painful time ro come to their senses and fall in line with socially-evolving and progressively-advancing movements of unfolding human awareness.

I call B.S. on all such brsin-numbing nonsense. I cut no god fraud a break--none--regardless of time or place or level of deluded devotion. Ignorance, insanity and indecency are perpetuated by the poison of the enabling mantra that "they just need time to change, so don't be too hard on them."

One can't be hard enough on them. (The Inquisition should've taught you that). Otherwise, these crimes against humanity continue to persist, divide and destroy at the expense of planetary peace and progress.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww#



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 09:24AM by steve benson.

There is a secret base behind the Rushmore heads.

I know this because I saw it in the movie "Team America: World Police".

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=iphone_bm&biw=375&bih=559&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=nS69WaisE4T0jwOex5CYDA&q=Canadian+side+of+mount+Rushmore&oq=Canadian+side+of+mount+Rushmore&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.12..0j0i24k1.11057.16236.0.17260.17.13.0.0.0.0.211.1549.2j9j1.12.0....0...1.1.64.mobile-gws-img..8.9.1162...0i67k1.0.cO1q7uNCrJM#imgrc=N4p7Yzd6YjoYqM:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 10:07AM by steve benson.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TmoeZHnOJKA#

Last time I was at Mt. Rushmore, there were bats flying out of Lincoln's nose.

Now I know why!

or was a post-nasal drip, one of the two.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 05:06AM by steve benson.

The linked photo of the so called Mormon Mt. Rushmore of the East has a defector. It's well known that Michael K. Young is no longer a practicing Mormon. Time to photo shop him out.

A word of advice for LDS trolls: if you wish to engage in a duel with Steve you're gonna need more than just a squirt gun.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OGoT9eO7vU8



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 03:27AM by steve benson.

It might help take focus away from that sculptor with LDS roots who happened to have been a racist, an anti-Semite, an admirer of the Confederacy, a KKK sympathizer, a destroyer of Native American land and a divorcee.

Now we find out that the main carver was an Italian. Perhaps the Mormons will start claiming he was related to Moroni.

https://beggarsbread.org/category/authors/sandra-tanner/

https://books.google.com/books?id=Iy-F3Dg3LccC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=Moroni+Italian+word+Comoros+islands&source=bl&ots=yBEGsvWt-W&sig=6byzFUYRadcsLtvdv7Bv8MERJMw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji-fPxp63WAhUQymMKHSNiBpwQ6AEIRzAI#v=onepage&q=Moroni%20Italian%20word%20Comoros%20islands&f=false



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2017 12:13AM by steve benson.

Steve, you have disturbed the holiest of molies. Good work!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 06:56PM by steve benson.

Ha ha ha!

A suitably non-Mormon George Washington Carver.

"George Washington Carver was an agricultural chemist and botanist whose colorful life story and eccentric personality transformed him into a popular American folk hero to people of all races.

"Born into slavery, he spent his first 30 years wandering through three states and working at odd jobs to obtain a basic education. His lifelong effort thereafter to better the lives of poor Southern black farmers by finding commercial uses for the region’s agricultural products and natural resources—in particular the peanut, sweet potato, cowpea, soybean, and native clays from the soil—brought him international recognition as a humanitarian and chemical wizard.

"An accomplished artist and pianist as well, Carver was among the most famous black men in the United States during the early twentieth century.

"Carver was born a slave on the plantation of Moses Carver near Diamond Grove, Missouri, sometime during the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. His father appears to have died in a log-rolling accident shortly after George’s birth. The Carver farm was raided several times throughout the war, and on one occasion, according to legend, bandits kidnapped George, who was then an infant, and his mother, Mary, and took them to Arkansas. Mary was never found, but a neighbor rescued young George and returned him to the Carver farm, accepting as payment a horse valued at $300.

"Now orphaned, George and his older brother, Jim, were raised by Moses and Susan Carver. George was frail and sickly and his frequent bouts with croup and whooping cough temporarily stunted his growth and permanently injured his vocal chords, leaving him with a high-pitched voice throughout his life. While his healthy brother grew up working on the Carver farm, George spent much of his childhood wandering in the nearby woods and studying the plants. Here he formed the interests and values that determined his later life—love and understanding of nature, long morning walks in the woods spent thinking and observing, strong religious training, and a taste of racial prejudice.

"The Carvers realized that George was an extremely intelligent and gifted child eager for an education. But since he was black, he was not allowed to attend the local school. In 1877 he left home to study in a school for blacks in nearby Neosho, getting his first exposure to a predominantly black environment. He roomed with a local black couple, paying his way by helping with the chores. Soon exhausting his teacher’s limited knowledge, he hitched a ride to Fort Scott, Kansas, in the late 1870s with another black family, becoming part of the mass exodus of Southern blacks to the Great Plains during that decade in search of a better life.

"Carver worked as a cook, launderer, and grocery clerk while continuing to pursue his education. Witnessing a brutal lynching in March of 1879, he was terrified. As quoted by Linda O. McMurry in George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol, more than sixty years after the incident he wrote: “As young as I was the horror haunted me and does even now.” He immediately left Fort Scott and moved to Olathe, Kansas, again working odd jobs while attending school. There he lived with another local black couple, Ben and Lucy Seymour, following them to Minneapolis, Kansas, the next year. Obtaining a bank loan, Carver opened a laundry business, joined the Seymours’ local Presbyterian Church, and entered a school with whites, finally completing his secondary education.

"In 1884 he moved to Kansas City, working as a clerk in the Union Depot. Accepted by mail at a Presbyterian college in Highland, Kansas, he was refused admission when he arrived because of his race. Though humiliated, he stayed in Highland to work for the Beelers, a cordial and supportive white family. Carver followed one of their sons to western Kansas in 1886 and tried homesteading, building a 14-square-foot sod house. But at that time he seemed more interested in playing the piano and organ and in painting than farming.
Finally Gained Academic Opportunities

"Carver moved again in 1888 to Winterset, Iowa, where he worked at a hotel before opening another laundry. A local white couple he met at church, Dr. and Mrs. Milholland, persuaded him to enter Simpson College, a small Methodist school open to all, in nearby Indianola, Iowa. He enrolled in September of 1890 as a select preparatory student, one allowed to enter without an official high school degree. Carver was unique in more ways than one: besides being the only black student on campus, he was the only male studying art.

"By all accounts his Simpson experience was enjoyable. Carver took in laundry to support himself, was accepted by his fellow students, and had many friends. But his art teacher, impressed by his talent with plants, strongly encouraged his transfer to the Iowa State College of Agriculture in Ames, which housed an agricultural experiment station considered one of the country’s leading centers of farming research. Three future U.S. secretaries of agriculture came from this university, including Professor James Wilson, who took Carver under his wing.

"Again Carver was the only black on campus. He lived in an old office, ate in the basement, supported himself with menial jobs, and was active in the campus branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). Soon he stood out for his talent as well. One of his paintings was among those chosen to represent Iowa at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The faculty, equally impressed by his ability to raise, cross-fertilize, and graft plants, persuaded him to stay on as a post-graduate after he graduated in 1894.

"Carver was appointed to the faculty as an assistant botanist in charge of the college greenhouse. He continued his studies under Louis Pammel, an authority in mycology (fungi and other plant diseases), receiving a master’s degree in science in 1896.

"Began Lasting Affiliation with Tuskegee

"The new graduate was in great demand. Iowa State wanted him to continue working there. Alcorn Agriculture & Mechanical College, a black school in Mississippi, was interested in his services. But when school principal Booker T. Washington, the most respected black educator in the country, asked Carver to establish an agricultural school and experiment station at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he accepted. According to Barry Mackintosh in American Heritage, Carver responded: “Of course it has always been the one great ideal of my life to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of my people possible, and to this end I have been preparing my life for these many years, feeling as I do that this line of education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom for our people.”

"Tuskegee was an entirely new world for Carver—an all-black, industrial trade school located in the segregated deep South. He went because he agreed with Washington’s efforts to improve the lives of the country’s black citizens through education, economic development, and conciliation rather than political agitation. He would devote the rest of his life to the institution and its goals.

"Carver arrived at Tuskegee in the fall of 1896 and immediately ran into problems. Many of the faculty members resented him because he was a dark-skinned black from the North who was educated in white schools and earned a higher salary than they did. Carver was a trained research scientist, not a teacher, at a primarily industrial trade school. He had few pupils, for the simple reason that most black students viewed a college education as a way to escape from the farm. In addition, he proved to be a poor administrator and financial manager of the school’s two farms, barns, livestock, poultry, dairy, orchards, and beehives.

"Washington and Carver often clashed. The realistic and pragmatic school principal expected practical results, while his idealistic, research-oriented professor preferred working at the school’s 10-acre experimental farm. In 1910 Carver was removed as head of the agriculture department and put in charge of a newly formed department of research. He gradually gave up teaching except for his Sunday evening Bible classes.
Directed Innovative Agricultural Research

"Carver found his true calling as head of the Tuskegee Experiment Station, working on research projects designed to help Southern agriculture in general and the poor black farmer, “the man farthest down,” in particular. Alabama agriculture was in a sorry state when he arrived. Many farmers were impoverished, and much of the state’s soil had been exhausted and eroded by extensive single-crop cotton cultivation. Carver set out to find a better way and to make Tuskegee a leading voice in Southern agricultural reform, as well as an important research, information, and educational center.

"He encouraged local farmers to visit the school and to send in soil, water, crops, feed, fertilizers, and insects to his laboratory for analysis. Most of his findings and advice stressed hard work and the wise use of natural resources rather than expensive machinery or fertilizer that the area’s poor farmers could not afford. Realizing that his discoveries and those of other agricultural researchers nationwide would have little effect unless publicized, Carver brought Tuskegee to the countryside by creating the Agriculture Movable School, a wagon that traveled to local farms with exhibits and demonstrations.

"He also attempted to reach a wide audience with the experiment station’s bulletins and brochures that he wrote and published from 1898 until his death. Rarely containing new ideas, Carver’s bulletins instead publicized findings by agricultural researchers throughout the country in simple, non-technical language aimed at farmers and their wives. His early bulletins stressed the need for planting crops other than cotton to restore the soil, the importance of crop rotation, strategies for managing an efficient and profitable farm, and ways to cure and keep meat during the hot southern summers. They also offered instructions on pickling, canning, and preserving foods and lessons on preparing balanced meals.
The “Goober” Genius

"To replace cotton, the longtime staple of Southern agriculture, Carver experimented with sweet potatoes and cowpeas (also known as black-eyed peas), along with crops new to Alabama like soybeans and alfalfa, the soil-building qualities of which would revitalize cotton-exhausted soil. He publicized his results in several bulletins from 1903 to 1911, providing growing tips and listing uses ranging from livestock feed to recipes for human consumption. But none of these crops became as popular with farmers or caught the public’s fancy as his work with the ordinary peanut.

"When Carver arrived in Tuskegee in 1896, the peanut was not even recognized as a crop. A few years later, Carver grew some Spanish peanuts at the experiment station. Recognizing its value in restoring nitrogen to depleted Southern soil, he mentioned the peanut in his 1905 bulletin, How to Build Up Worn Out Soils. Eleven years later another bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption, focused on the peanut’s high protein and nutritional value, using ideas and recipes published previously in other U.S. Department of Agriculture bulletins.

"A revolution was underway in Southern agriculture, and Carver was right in the middle of it. Peanut production increased from 3.5 million bushels in 1889 to more than 40 million bushels in 1917. Following a post-World War I decline in production, peanuts became the South’s second cash crop after cotton by 1940.

"After publicizing the peanut and encouraging Southern farmers to grow it, Carver turned his attention to finding new uses for the once-lowly goober. Learning of his work, the United Peanut Associations of America asked Carver to speak at their 1920 convention in Montgomery, Alabama. His address, “The Possibilities of the Peanut,” was noteworthy for two reasons: a black addressing a white organization in the segregated South and Carver’s knowledge and enthusiasm about the product.

"The following year he testified before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, captivating congressional representatives with his showmanship and ideas for multiple derivatives from the crop including candy, ink, and ice cream flavoring. Mackintosh noted that Carver established his new celebrity nationwide, telling the lawmakers, “I have just begun with the peanut”. From then on he was known as the “Peanut Man.” After his death, the Carver Museum at Tuskegee credited him with developing 287 peanut byproducts, including food and beverages, paints or dyes, livestock feed, cosmetics, and medicinal preparations. Peanut butter, however, was not among his discoveries. His similar laboratory work with the sweet potato totaled 159 commodities like flour, molasses, vinegar, various dyes, and synthetic rubber.

"But in reality, most of these by-products were more fanciful than practical and could be mass-produced more easily from other substances. Peanuts continued to be used almost entirely for peanut butter, peanut oil, and for baked goods instead of the plethora of products Carver concocted. For all his discoveries, he only held three patents: two for paint products and one for a cosmetic. None was commercially successful.

"Carver’s laboratory methods were equally unorthodox and not in accord with standard scientific procedures. He usually worked alone, was uncommunicative with other researchers, and rarely wrote down his many formulas or left detailed records of his experiments. Instead, he claimed to work by divine revelation, receiving instructions from “Mr. Creator” in his laboratory.
A National Leader

"Carver’s prestige began to rise after Booker T. Washington’s death in 1915. Given his growing celebrity status, he became Tuskegee’s unofficial spokesman and a popular speaker nationwide at black and white civic groups, colleges, churches, and state fairs. He often played the piano at fund-raising events for the school. Carver was named a fellow of the British Royal Society for the Arts in 1916 and received the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in 1923 for advancing the black cause.

"A fanciful 1932 article in 'American Magazine' solely credited Carver with increasing peanut production and developing important new peanut products that transformed Southern agriculture. Reprinted in the 'Reader’s Digest' in 1937, it boosted his soaring popularity as a scientific wizard. Backed by automobile manufacturer Henry Ford and inventor Thomas Edison, Carver became the unofficial spokesman of the chemurgy movement of the 1930s that combined chemistry and related sciences for the benefit of farmers. Continuing his work with peanuts, he encouraged the use of peanut oil as a massage to help in the recovery of polio victims.

"With his soft-spoken manner, strong Christian beliefs, scientific reputation, seeming disregard for money, and accomodationist viewpoint toward the nation’s racial question, Carver became a national symbol for both races. Southern whites approved of his seeming acceptance of segregation and used his accomplishments as an example of how a talented black individual could excel in their separate but equal society. Blacks and liberal whites saw Carver as a positive role model and much-needed symbol of black success and intellectual achievement, a man who visited U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge and dined with Henry Ford.
Carver’s Legacy

"Carver left his life savings of $60,000 to found the George Washington Carver Foundation—to provide opportunities for advanced study by blacks in botany, chemistry, and agronomy— and the Carver Museum, to preserve his scientific work and paintings at Tuskegee. The site of Moses Carver’s farm is now the George Washington Carver National Monument. A U.S. postage stamp was issued in the agricultural pioneer’s honor, and Congress has designated January 5, the day of his death, to pay tribute to him each year.

"At his death from complications of anemia in 1943, Carver remained the most famous African-American of his era, world renowned as a scientific wizard. However, none of his hundreds of formulas for peanut, sweet potato, and other by-products became successful commercial products. Nor was he solely instrumental in diversifying Southern agriculture from cotton to peanuts and other crops. The great boom in Southern peanut production occurred prior to World War I and Carver’s bulletins promoting the crop.

"Carver’s true importance in history lay elsewhere. For nearly 50 years he remained in the South, working to improve the lives of the region’s many poor farmers, black and white. Through his talents as an interpreter and promoter, he put the agricultural discoveries and technical writings of leading scientists in everyday language that ill-educated farmers could understand and use. And in an age of strict racial segregation, his importance as a role model and national symbol of black ability, education, and achievement cannot be undervalued."

Summary:

"Born c. 1861, near Diamond Grove, MO; died January 5, 1943, in Tuskegee, AL; son of Mary (a slave on the farm of Moses Carver); father unknown, but believed to have died in an accident shortly after George’s birth. Education: Iowa State University, B.S., 1894, M.S., 1896. Religion: Presbyterian.

"Worked odd jobs throughout Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa while pursuing a basic high school education, 1877-1890; Iowa State University, Ames, IA, assistant botanist and director of college greenhouse, 1894-1896; Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, AL, head of agriculture department, 1896-1910, head of department of research, 1910-1943; founder of George Washington Carver Foundation and Carver Museum at Tuskegee Institute; researcher focusing on improving Southern agriculture through crop diversification and finding multiple uses for various crops; author of articles on agriculture.

"Awards: Fellow of the British Royal Society for the Arts, 1916; Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 1923; D.Sc. from Simpson College, 1928; Roosevelt Medal for distinguished service to science, 1939; D.Sc. from University of Rochester, 1941; Thomas A. Edison Foundation Award, 1942; inducted into Hall of Fame for Great Americans, 1973, and National Inventors Hall of Fame, 1990."

http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/agriculture-biographies/george-washington-carver



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2017 12:09AM by steve benson.