Two outstanding achievements stand to his credit. One of these was the building of the Panama Canal, an accomplishment of transcendent importance to the American people. It is the link that binds the East to the West by water and has helped to make this country one of the great commercial and industrial nations of the world. The canal is also of first importance from the standpoint of national defense and has added greatly to the mobility and usefulness of our Navy, which has always been our first line of defense against any possible foreign foe.
The second was the injection of morals into our politics and the insistence upon the square deal for every American, be he small or great. It was this characteristic more than any other that endeared him to the ordinary man and made him one of the most powerful political figures and one of the greatest moral forces that has taken possession of the hearts and minds of men in any age. It was not that he was always right, but men and women clung to him because they felt that he was right most of the time and was trying to be right all of the time.
As a lone fighter he was without a peer in his day and generation, and had the impetuosity and zeal required to arouse a mighty following in any cause which he espoused and upon which he had deep convictions. Every word that he spoke and every manifestation of his personality left a profound impression upon all those who came into contact with him either personally or upon the hustings. Everywhere he was impressive, persuasive and compelling. While he may never be loved as Lincoln was loved, or rise to the stature of Washington, his example, fortitude in adversity, and fight for the betterment of his fellow men will ever be like a beacon going before to inspire men and women everywhere who are seeking to make the world a better place in which to live.
It was President Calvin Coolidge who said to Sculptor Gutzon Borglum that among the immortals to be carved upon Mount Rushmore a place must be found for Theodore Roosevelt, “because he was the first president to say to Big Business, ‘thus far you shall go and no farther.’” Washington is there because he was the trusted leader that made these United States possible, and was great and strong enough to refuse a crown and lay down the scepter when his work was done. Jefferson stands at his side because of his contribution to the rights of man as set forth in the bill of rights; Abraham Lincoln because he saved the Union from division by his own martyrdom and his infinite compassion for those who suffered, and Theodore Roosevelt because he was the greatest moral force for clean government and the square deal of modern times.
WILLIAM WILLIAMSON
AS GREAT MEN SAW IT
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)