The Carving of Mount Rushmore

by Rex Alan Smith

We are at the spearhead of a mighty world movement—an awakened force in rebellion against the worn and useless thought of yesterday.… We are reaching deep into the soul of mankind, and through democracy building better than has ever been built before. Even as they spoke, however, that “mighty world movement” was getting ever deeper into trouble, and those world leaders who, unlike Judge Denu, believed that the individual existed only to serve the state were growing steadily more powerful and more dangerous. In August, Hitler and Stalin concluded a “non-aggression pact” that actually was an agreement for their joint aggression against Poland. At dawn, eight days later, German aircraft, armor, and infantry began pouring over the Polish border, and the world learned a new German word—Blitzkrieg, meaning “lightning war.” On September 3, Great Britain finally declared war on Germany, and on the 4th