Between 1927 and 1941 the splendidly named sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum designed and supervised the colossal carvings to represent the first one hundred and fifty years of American history.
These days there would almost certainly be a public poll to choose the subjects but in 1927 this was entirely down to Borglum who chose George Washington to represent the birth of the United States, Thomas Jefferson the growth of the United States, Abraham Lincoln the preservation of the United States and Theodore Roosevelt the development of the United States.