Washington, July 4, 2026
US President Donald Trump used the symbolic backdrop of Mount Rushmore on Friday (local time) to pay tribute to four of America’s most influential Presidents, saying they embodied the nation’s founding ideals and calling on Americans to draw inspiration from their leadership as the country marks 250 years of independence.
Speaking on the eve of Independence Day, Trump said the nation’s semiquincentennial offered an opportunity to reflect on the legacy of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, whose likenesses are carved into the granite monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills.
“Tonight we come to this beautiful mountain, and it is beautiful to express our gratitude to those who made it possible, starting with the four men most responsible for reaching this milestone more than any others,” Trump said.
He described Washington as “the father of our country”, Jefferson as “the author of the Declaration of Independence”, Lincoln as “the great emancipator and saviour of our union”, and Roosevelt as “the man who built America into a global superpower.”
“These are the men who declared the freedom, won our freedom, saved our freedom and secured our freedom,” Trump said. “They were men of action, men of ambition, men of daring, men of destiny and men of truly great intelligence. Above all, they were great men of history.”
Trump said the monument represented more than a tribute to four former presidents. He argued it served as a reminder of the values that shaped the United States over the past two and a half centuries.
“Tonight on the threshold of our 250th year, we stand beneath the monument of these heroes… and we rededicate ourselves to being a nation as big, bold, noble, and as great as these American giants,” he said.
“Their faces are engraved on these bluffs, not only because of what they did but to remind us forever who we are.”
The President said the four leaders reflected enduring qualities of the American character and argued that the country’s success had been driven as much by its people as by its founding documents.
“These heroes exemplify what is timeless enduring and eternal about the American character,” Trump said. “The identity of a nation is the destiny of a nation and America has a destiny like no other because we are a people like no other.”
He also urged Americans to preserve what he called the nation’s cultural inheritance for future generations.
“For generations, it was understood that the core of patriotic duty of every American was to pass this culture onto our children and to preserve the nation for centuries and centuries to come,” Trump said.
Concluding the address, Trump said the country’s 250th anniversary marked the beginning of a new chapter rather than the end of one.
“Tomorrow we reach a milestone like no other and celebrate with joyful hearts and soaring spirits because after two and a half centuries, we know that this is not an ending. This is only the beginning of the golden age of America,” he said.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial was carved between 1927 and 1941 under the direction of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. The monument depicts four US Presidents who are widely associated with the nation’s founding, territorial expansion, preservation of the Union and emergence as a global power.
The speech came as the United States prepared to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776. The anniversary has prompted nationwide celebrations and historical programmes highlighting the country’s founding and its constitutional traditions.(Agency)
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