New face on
Mount Rushmore, if briefly
Greenpeace hangs face of Obama among presidents
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jul 10, 2009
Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson are the faces tourists expect to see carved in granite on Mount Rushmore.
On Wednesday, if for only an hour or so, they saw a fifth, Barack Obama.
A huge banner featuring the president's face was hung to Lincoln’s left on the national monument.
It was a message from Greenpeace, the environmental group.
At the top of the banner, in large black letters, were the words “America honors leaders.” In red, across Obama’s cheek, were the words “not politicians,” and below “Stop global warming” and the Greenpeace logo.
The banner, measuring 65 feet by 35 feet, was up just an hour before park police swept through and ripped it down, arresting the perpetrators.
But the damage had been done. The activists had filmed the entire project for posting on the Greenpeace web site, knowing that it would be picked up and spread about the internet as news stories broke about their stunt. (Example: "Mount Rushmore may adjust security after protest.")
The stunt was very much a political statement, timed to the president's meeting with other world leaders at the G8 conference in Italy.
"If President Obama intends to earn a place among this country's true leaders, he needs to show that courage, and base his actions on the scientific reality rather than political convenience," read a statement from Greenpeace.
And yet in a lot of ways the Obama banner was a classic alternative media campaign, if on the guerilla end of things. It had huge shock value, which created global media attention, and it delivered a sharp, clearly focused message: Solving tough issues demands real courage, not political maneuvering.
But most important it was imaginative. The stunt was designed to get people thinking about the message in a new way. It was not the same old political rant from the left of the sort folks are inclined to tune out.
Getting the banner up was a production. It took 11 climbers to hoist the banner up the face of the mountain, then three repelled down to drape the 2,300 square-foot call to action. It went up at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Greenpeace said the climbers were careful to use existing anchors placed on the national monument by the National Park Service for periodic cleanings, so as not to damage the monument.
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