Mount Rushmore a humid continental climate ("Dwb" in the Köppen climate classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than . The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer. Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top tourist attraction. In 2012, 2,185,447 people visited the park. In the 1950s and 1960s, Sioux Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk) was the "Fifth Face
Howard Rushmore Rushmore would dine with "his wife (Frances), Roy Cohn and his girl-friend." On November 27, 1949, Rushmore published in the "Journal-American" allegations of communist infiltration of US naval vessels. Though the facts of the article were invented by Rushmore, by coincidence the FBI was conducting its own investigation on the same matter. Initially, J. Edgar Hoover thought that Rushmore had access to genuine intelligence. Hoover then had Rushmore's telephone tapped. Later in Olympia, Washington, Rushmore testified before the Canwell Committee, a state committee to investigate subversive activities at the University of Washington. Rushmore switched the subject to Washington, D.C. He