Arthur Cerasani was a struggling artist in Rochester, New York trying to support a young family during the Great Depression when he heard a knock on his door. The visitor was Gutzon Borglum who wanted Cerasani to finish a bust of media mogul Frank Gannett. When the project was done, Borglum invited Cerasani to work on Mount Rushmore.
The young sculptor left his wife and kids behind and moved to South Dakota, but he kept in touch with daily letters. The letters tell of spring blizzards, summer heat, loneliness, and Borglum’s unpredictable moods. Arthur Cerasani’s son Richard, who was a toddler when his father working on Mount Rushmore in 1940, found the letters in a trunk a few years ago. They’re the basis of a new book from the South Dakota State Historical Society Press, “Love Letters from Mount Rushmore: The Story of a Marriage, a Monument, and a Moment in History.” Richard Cerasani is an actor who has worked under the name Richard Caine. He's best known for playing Bill Watson on “General Hospital” from 1979-1981. "Love Letters from Mount Rushmore" is his first book.
