Empire: World History

Podbit · Empire: World History

373. The Dark Truth About Mount Rushmore

Explore episode Jul 1, 2026
History
Gutzon Borglum: Sculptor, Supremacist, Showman

373. The Dark Truth About Mount Rushmore · Jul 1, 2026 History

Borglum was trained in Paris under Rodin, carved a Lincoln bust that still stands in the US Capitol, and was a Progressive Party supporter — yet he was also deeply entangled with the KKK, maintained a close correspondence with the Grand Dragon of Indiana, and held virulent anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant views. He is a walking contradiction that Mount Rushmore's official story simply erases.

7m 40s

Where this was said

Gutzon Borglum: The Man Who Would Carve an Empire

At 28:00 · chapter starts 24:40

Robinson's first-choice sculptor turned him down, and he ended up with Gutzon Borglum — a name Anita gleefully compares to a Bond villain, and a personality to match. Born in 1867 in Idaho to Danish Mormon parents, Borglum's early life was defined by the trauma of having his biological mother cast aside when his polygamous father renounced Mormonism. Raised by his aunt and taught that the truth of his origins was 'something to hide,' Borglum carried that secretiveness into adulthood — a poignant parallel to the hidden history of the monument he would create. He arrived in Europe as a painter and left ten years later as a sculptor, transformed by his relationship with Rodin, who taught him to be an iconoclast and to challenge artistic systems. Back in the US permanently, he had already carved a marble Lincoln in the US Capitol and another in Newark, New Jersey. He refused to submit to artistic competitions, demanding to be hired directly — a reflection of the fierce, combative personality that everyone who worked with him found deeply challenging.

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