President Coolidge at Dedication of Mount Rushmore National Memorial

This photograph of President Calvin Coolidge speaking during the dedication of the start of work on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was taken on August 10, 1927. In the summer of 1927, Coolidge was vacationing at the State Game Lodge in the Black Hills of South Dakota, when he accepted the invitation to speak by sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Here, Coolidge is pictured in a pair of cowboy boots. Coolidge's dedication bestowed national legitimacy on the project, which took place from October 1927 until October 1941.