Despise or adore him, Trump's statue is a piece of public art. It belongs with the other presidential statues in Rapid City
Statues are static creations. They are fixed to one spot, and are designed for people to stare at, walk past, or completely ignore.
But a piece of public art in Rapid City is creating waves, which is to be expected. It’s a statue of President Donald Trump, one of 44 bronzes placed throughout downtown Rapid City by the nonprofit City of Presidents.
Trump’s statue is at the corner of St. Joseph Street and Sixth Street. It depicts him at a podium, leaning forward in the awkward pose he often takes, with his right hand in the air, its thumb and middle finger pinched together.
A cell phone with an X logo is part of the statue, acknowledging his pioneering use of Twitter as a political weapon and tool.
The statue was unveiled May 3 and displayed at the downtown Visitor Center for several months before it was placed permanently across from the Alex Johnson Hotel on Nov. 25.
Since Trump is the subject, there has been considerable controversy. People who dislike him, or even despise him, are angry to see it on public display. I have read several lengthy strings online with people hoping for vandalism to strike, or demanding the city remove it.
While I have made my opposition to and great dislike for Trump known for several years in columns — he is, in my view, the worst person to ever hold the office of president and his actions, words and behavior are appalling — I support the placement of the statue.
It belongs there.
The City of Presidents provides bronze versions of all presidents. Most are rather obscure and draw little attention. I don’t recall seeing any protests about John Tyler, Martin Van Buren or William McKinley.
Some are popular with locals and tourists, including the John F. Kennedy statue, which depicts him holding his son John Jr.’s hand while offering him a toy plane. It is a bit disconcerting considering the younger Kennedy’s tragic fate.
Theodore Roosevelt shows him as a bespectacled warrior, with a sabre at his side and a blue bandana around his muscular neck.
Richard Nixon is seated in a chair with Chinese writing, a tribute to his work to open the door to China. The artists strived to capture something in the president’s lives to make the statues more than just stiff politicians posing forever.
William Howard Taft, a star baseball player when he was younger and slimmer, is shown leaning in for a sign, a ball clutched in his hand. Calvin Coolidge, who spent the summer of 1927 in the Black Hills, doffs a cowboy hat and leans against a saddle.
If you haven’t been there, it’s worth a trip and stroll through presidential history. Don’t like Trump? Skip that statue, or stop there and offer an appropriate gesture.
Not a fan of Nixon, or the Bushes or Bill Clinton? It’s still worth taking a look at these impressive works of art. Taking a close look at the face and frame of the men who lead — or misled — the nation is fascinating.
The sculptors include James Michael Maher, who did the Trump piece, his 13th president; John Lopez, who has created a dozen of the statues; Edward Hlavka; James Van Nuys and the team of Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby.
Maher, who said Trump may be an extremely impactful president — but in what way, we still don’t know — offered an intriguing comment upon the placement of the Trump statue.
“We continue to live in interesting times,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “Happy to be a small part of it.”
Maher will create the statue of Joe Biden, which will be completed in the next couple years. The reason Trump is up now is because it was ordered after his first term.
There won’t be a second Trump statue — although he may ask for one. Grover Cleveland, who served nonconsecutive terms from 1885-89 and 1893-97, has just one statute even though he is considered the 22nd and 24th president. The 45th and 47th president will get just one monument in downtown Rapid.
Leuning and Treeby had a crack at Trump when they created a bust of him as a fifth face on Mount Rushmore. I was the first reporter to see and report an image of that piece, which was ordered by then-Gov. Kristi Noem.
Some of his admirers want an image of Trump really added to Rushmore. That is impossible, I have been told by National Park Service officials and experts who said the mountain does not have enough rock or space to include a fifth face.
In addition, it’s a historic work of art that was completed more than 80 years ago. Leave it alone.
I wrote several stories about the City of Presidents when I was editor of the late, great Rapid City Weekly News from 2005-09. With my passion for history, it was a labor of love.
I got to know Dallerie Davis, a local Realtor who worked closely with the artists, and the man behind the program, businessman Don Perdue. Don was an interesting character. He always said he wasn’t so much interested in history or art as he was in promoting Rapid City.
Don, who died in 2023 at the age of 91, told me he considered the City of Presidents to be an economic development effort disguised as an art and history project.
The first four statues, of George Washington, John Adams, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, were unveiled in 2000. They were eventually joined by their presidential brethren.
None caused the stir the Trump bronze did. Rapid City officials are aware of the emotions it has sparked and said there are several cameras nearby, and anyone who damages it will face prosecution.
But in times like this, with the country bitterly divided and Trump stirring the pot and sparking angry responses almost daily, it seems likely there will be some attacks on the statue.
That’s wrong, in my view. Love or hate him, it belongs with the other presidents captured in metal.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: John Tsitrian
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