Carving of the Crazy Horse Memorial

Floor Speech

CARVING OF THE CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL -- (Senate - May 20, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the resolution that was adopted by the Senate is S. Res. 496, which I introduced on April 2, 2008, along with my colleague from South Dakota, Senator TIM JOHNSON. The resolution honors the 60th anniversary of the Crazy Horse Memorial.

The Crazy Horse Memorial, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, honors the culture, the tradition, and the living heritage of Native Americans. Once completed, the memorial will stand more than 22 stories high and be the largest mountain sculpture in the world. Every year, there is an event called the Volksmarch, in which people start at the base and walk up to the very top of the monument. You cannot appreciate the size and the dimension of this great monument from a distance. It is only when you get up close that the true dimensions of this monument come into full view. I have had that opportunity on the Volksmarch, with my family, to walk up and stand next to this monument and to have an appreciation for its true dimension and for what it means to my State of South Dakota and to the Native American culture.

The sculptor of this monument, Korczak Ziolkowski, had no formal training and originally came to South Dakota to assist Gutzon Borglum in the carving of Mount Rushmore. In 1939, Chief Henry Standing Bear invited him to construct another mountain monument, this one to honor a great Native American hero. However, it was not until June 3, in 1948, that the project was officially dedicated.

Crazy Horse, a great Lakota chief, was selected as the Native American hero worthy of the mountain monument because of his courage in battle, his visionary leadership, and his commitment to the preservation of the traditional Lakota way of life. The memorial was placed in the Black Hills of South Dakota because they are sacred to the Lakota people. While Crazy Horse was never photographed, the completed monument will feature a likeness of him riding a horse and pointing with his left hand out toward the Black Hills.

Ziolkowski, who worked tirelessly and without salary on the Crazy Horse Memorial until his death in 1982, believed in individual initiative and private enterprise and worked to build the memorial without any Federal funding. As my colleagues can see from the photo we have here, the face of Crazy Horse is complete, the rest of the mountain has been roughly blocked out, and efforts are currently focused on carving the horse's head.

While there is no way to predict the date of completion because of weather, financing, and the challenges of carving a mountain, Ziolkowski's wife Ruth, who is an amazingly determined woman, and his family, along with the help of thousands of donors and visitors, continues Ziolkowski's mission of honoring Native Americans through the construction of this monument.

Therefore, today I rise to honor the 60th anniversary of the Crazy Horse Memorial and send my best wishes to all those working to make Korczak Ziolkowski's vision a reality.

I thank the Senate for its adoption of the resolution, and I yield the floor.

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