excerpts from speeches at dedicatory and unveiling ceremonies or comments made during personal visits to the memorial.

president calvin coolidge (consecration ceremony, august 10, 1927)

“we have come here to dedicate a corner stone that was laid by the hand of the almighty.... this memorial will be another national shrine to which future generations will repair to declare their continuing allegiance to independence, to self government, to freedom and to economic justice....”

president franklin d. roosevelt (jefferson unveiling)

“an inspiration for the continuance of the democratic republican form of government, not only in our own beloved country, but, we hope, throughout the world.”

lord halifax (visiting the black hills, march 29, 1946)

“the most remarkable confluence of the wonder of nature and the art of man i have ever witnessed.”

judge albert r. denu (borglum banquet, december 28, 1938)

“the historian of the future ... will record america’s enduring achievements and include in his history the name of a master sculptor, whom the earth’s inhabitants of the twentieth century knew as gutzon borglum.”