In 1939 South Dakota celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its statehood, and a meeting of the people was held at Rushmore. Governor Harlan J. Bushfield, later U. S. Senator, said, “At this time, when freedom and democracy have been challenged in so many parts of the world, no better place for this ceremony could possibly be selected than the Black Hills and particularly this Shrine of Democracy.” The Sioux Indians were there under Chief Henry Standing Bear, camped in wigwams around the base of Rushmore cliff. Some 15,000 people had come from all parts of South Dakota and neighboring states. Doane Robinson appeared in the same suit of clothes and the same hat he had worn on statehood day fifty years before. It seemed to be a fitting contribution to Rushmore’s most enthusiastic celebration. Across the country in Washington, Congressman Francis Case, now Senator, of South Dakota, whose home at Custer was virtually in the shadow of the memorial, was carrying on the old fight for funds. To a Congressional committee he said: The best answer to every question about Rushmore is to see it.... I have seen it grow from a dream to a reality.... The soundness of Doane Robinson’s idea, the dogged persistence of the late Senator Peter Norbeck, and the ability of Gutzon Borglum to inspire people with the works of his hands and with his vigorous exposition of American ideals, have kept the project going on.... And Mr. Case read into the record a letter from John Boland which said in part: Mr. Borglum is an artist. I am a businessman. Therefore it is only natural that we should at times disagree regarding the business functions of the commission. Such differences, however, have never been serious and an amicable understanding has always been reached. My only desire is to have the Mount Rushmore memorial completed in the best possible manner and to have Mr. Borglum carry on his great work with the assistance of his son, Lincoln, the continued co-operation of the commission and the efficient supervision of the National Park Service. So presently all human troubles had been wafted away from Rushmore, and briefly the atmosphere was filled with the sweetness and light that Gutzon had foreseen. As the park was landscaped and the carving of the mountain went on with effortless speed, nobody could remember the charge that Gutzon Borglum had an ungovernable temper. He was a keen observer, but he was temperate and he was polite. One remembers the day when Walter Travis of the Rapid City _Journal_ paid one of his routine calls at Rushmore. Gutzon beamed on him. Travis knew that Gutzon had recently been in a long and futile argument with Rapid City’s administration on the desirability of straightening and decorating Rapid River. But he smiled, too. It was none of his business.