‘The Rushmore story is hard to tell’: how an Indigenous park leader revealed the monument’s dark side

As memorial marks 100 years, Gerard Baker, park's Native American ex-superintendent believes if Rushmore's story is told the right way, people are going to be leaving pissed'

Despite suffering heart attacks, strokes and the effects of diabetes, Gerard Baker can still easily lift an 80-lb bag of feed for the cows he raises on his south-east Montana ranch. On the sprawling 640-acre property of pine and cottonwoods, buffalo grass and blue grass, Baker drives out early in the mornings to feed his cows and think about what he could have done differently.

On 1 June 2004, Gerard Baker became the first Native American superintendent at Mount Rushmore national memorial, and his six years at the helm were both transformative and turbulent.