A plane buzzed over the Black Hills of South Dakota in the summer of 1927. It swooped and dove through the air, entertaining President Calvin Coolidge and his family below. The pilot dropped a wreath of flowers to this little crowd and sped away.
The Coolidges had chosen the large Game Lodge in Custer State Park as their summer retreat, where they tried to keep a quiet schedule. However, an ambitious sculptor nearby had other ideas.
Gutzon Borglum needed to promote his planned colossal historic art sculpture on Mount Rushmore. A visiting president seemed too great an opportunity to pass up.
Borglum had hired the pilot to fly by the president’s Summer White House in an attempt to convince Coolidge to make a speech at Rushmore, and he was rewarded for this effort. On a bright, sunny August day, Coolidge faced a large crowd gathered at Mount Rushmore to announce the start of Borglum’s project….