Mount Rushmore has two big birthdays this year. First, the National Park Service turns 100 years old. And Mount Rushmore National Memorial celebrates the 75th anniversary of its completion.
On Oct. 31, 1941, the carving of the four presidents was complete. Earlier that year, sculptor Gutzon Borglum had died, and a little more than a month later, the Pearl Harbor attack pulled the United States into World War II. There was no dedication ceremony to mark the completion of the Shrine of Democracy.
Fifty years later, on July 3, 1991, that oversight was corrected. In a huge ceremony attended by President George H.W. Bush, Tom Brokaw, Mary Hart, and other officials, the memorial was finally dedicated.