When the reserved, teetotaling Calvin Coolidge took office following the corruption scandals of the Harding administration, America was entering the high-spirited Roaring Twenties. During his presidency from 1923 to 1929, Charles Lindbergh completed his historic transatlantic flight, Babe Ruth hit his record-breaking sixty home runs, and the stock market surged. Silent Cal’s effectiveness as a leader came from his restrained style of governance. “The president gets the best advice he can find, uses the best judgment at his command, and leaves the event in the hands of Providence,” he said.

In the summer of 1927, President Coolidge and his wife journeyed to the Black Hills for what was intended to be a short vacation—but the President enjoyed the region so much that he extended his stay for nearly three months. The rustic State Game Lodge in Custer State Park became the temporary “Summer White House.” Locals fondly recalled Coolidge’s trout-fishing outings and his delight at the number of fish he caught—unaware that park staff secretly restocked the stream each night. Coolidge also attended rodeos, donned Western attire including his gift of a ten-gallon hat, and posed for photographs with local cowboys and ranchers.

On August 10, 1927, Coolidge, seen standing here, rode on horseback with his entourage to participate in the formal dedication of the Mount Rushmore project. Seated on the left is South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck, who championed the federal legislation that made the monument possible. The gentleman in the light-colored suit is Gutzon Borglum, the fiery visionary who personally selected the granite mountainside that would consume the next fourteen years of his life. Coolidge called Mount Rushmore a “national shrine,” adding that “the people of the future will see history and art combined to portray the spirit of patriotism.”

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