Crossing the border
Posted: Thursday, October 04, 2007 5:04 PM by Daily Nightly Editor
Filed Under:
Brian Williams
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
It was frustrating to read a blogger yesterday accuse the American media of "moving on" after an initial burst of coverage of the Myanmar story. I wanted to write him and tell him that our correspondent Ian Williams was, at that very moment, risking his life by trying to secretly cross the border into the former Burma to get a story out of there. Now that he's successfully been able to do that, I can say what I couldn't say before. Its a dangerous business -- and of course we'll continue to cover this story.
We have a thoroughly busy agenda tonight: the torture story, Senator Craig, Myanmar, medical mistakes, and more.
Rock Stars
Eighty years ago today, on October 4, 1927, a blast of dynamite in the Black Hills of South Dakota began the 14-year process of carving Mount Rushmore – America’s granite shrine to four of its greatest presidents. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt – immortalized for their matchless contribution to our nation’s history. It’s safe to say that every president since has harbored secret dreams of being up there with the greats, carved in stone. The folks at the National Park Service who look after Mount Rushmore tell us that six sitting presidents have actually paid a visit to Rushmore. Calvin Coolidge was there in 1927 for the dedication of the site – which was then so remote that he had to travel four miles on horseback to get there. Nine years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt was on hand for the 1936 dedication of the Jefferson figure. The announcement that work had been completed on the sculpture came in November, 1941 – just days before Pearl Harbor. World War II put off plans for a formal dedication, and for the next 50 years, the only president to visit was Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1953. The official dedication of Mount Rushmore finally took place in 1991, with President George H.W. Bush in attendance. Both of his successors have visited since then – Bill Clinton in 1999, and George W. Bush in 2002.
“I had seen photographs, I had seen the drawings, and I had talked with those who are responsible for this great work. Yet I had had no conception until about ten minutes ago, not only of its magnitude, but of its permanent beauty and of its permanent importance.”
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at Mount Rushmore, Aug. 30, 1936.
No discussion of Mount Rushmore can be considered complete without making mention of two more things, starting with the famous climax to Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1959 film, “North by Northwest.” That scene was not filmed on Mount Rushmore itself, but on a Hollywood set. The Park Service apparently frowned on using the actual site as a backdrop for an attempted murder. And visitors to Mount Rushmore these days (about 3 million a year) should be sure to catch another film – the one they show at the visitors center there. It’s narrated by South Dakota’s own -- and our own -- Tom Brokaw.
Please take a moment to read today's Medal of Honor biography of my good friend Brian M. Thacker. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
