This page has been optimized for printing through your browser.
Your readers should call 1-800-916-0040 (USA and Canada) or 1-314-421-1023 for a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitors Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis online at www.explorestlouis.com
PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY IN ST. LOUIS
From Jefferson to Bush, the Gateway City has ties to the White House
Throughout St. Louis' history, the office of the president of the United States has impacted St. Louis and vice versa. Visitors to St. Louis can discover the city's presidential connections by touring a number of historic attractions. The following highlights some great places to visit and learn a few historical and fun facts about the Gateway City's relationship with present and past "Leaders of the Free World."
In 2008, St. Louis will play an important role in the selection of the next vice president of the U.S. The Field House of Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) will be the site of a debate between the vice presidential candidates on October 2. The university has a history of involvement with political debates, having hosted more than any other institution. Since 1992, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has asked the university to host debates in five consecutive elections, making it the only institution to host more than two debates.
The focus of the 2008 vice presidential debate will be domestic and foreign policy and will be administered by a single moderator. The Field House was the site of the first nationally televised three-candidate presidential debate in 1992, which included President George Bush, Gov. Bill Clinton and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.
Speaking of presidents, President Thomas Jefferson's dream of a continental United States came closer to reality when he purchased the Louisiana Territory, which included St. Louis, from France for $15 million in 1803. Today, Jefferson's vision is commemorated with the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, a national park dedicated to America's westward expansion and the movement that made St. Louis the Gateway to the West.
The memorial is probably best known for the soaring, 630-foot tall stainless steel icon known as the Gateway Arch. The Arch, now the internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, is part of a 97-acre facility that includes the Museum of Westward Expansion, located beneath the sculpture, the Old Courthouse and Luther Ely Smith Square. Vice President Hubert Humphrey dedicated the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on May 25, 1968. The only president who has taken the tram ride to the top of the monument is Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Another Jeffersonian-related site is Jefferson Barracks. Named to honor President Thomas Jefferson, the Federal Army post opened in 1826 as the nation's first "Infantry School of Practice," and it played an important role in westward expansion. Today, Jefferson Barracks houses a national cemetery and a military museum. Presidents who served the Army at "JB," include 12th president Zachary Taylor and 18th president Ulysses S. Grant.
In 1843, Grant was a young Second Lieutenant from West Point assigned to Jefferson Barracks. He was a frequent visitor to the home of his academy roommate, Frederick Dent, who lived on his family's farm called White Haven. Grant fell in love with Dent's sister Julia, and five years later, when Grant returned from the Mexican-American War, the couple married and lived at White Haven. Grant was unhappy that his military assignments frequently separated him from his wife and young family, so he resigned his commission and returned to St. Louis. He built "Hardscrabble," a log cabin home on a 100-acre tract on the White Haven farm given to him and his wife by his father-in-law. His family lived there for three months until his mother-in-law Ellen Dent's death. The Grants then moved to the main family house.
Today, White Haven is operated as the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. Visitors can tour the Victorian-style house and grounds and learn more about the Dent and Grant families' lives at the interpretive center operated by the National Parks Service. "Hardscrabble" is open from April through October at Grant's Farm, a 281-acre animal preserve operated by Anheuser-Busch, Inc. The facility also features a Clydesdale horse breeding farm, tram ride, petting zoo and animal skill shows.
In 1861, Grant legally freed his only slave at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. The venue was the site of Dred and Harriet Scott's historic slavery trial, which began in 1847. Scott won his case in St. Louis only to have the Supreme Court overturn the lower court's ruling, which denied the couple their freedom on the grounds that they were not U.S. citizens and, therefore, not entitled to sue. Visitors can tour the historic courtroom, St. Louis history galleries, and participate in National Park Service ranger-led reenactments of the famed trial.
Just north of St. Louis, in nearby Alton, Illinois was the site of a presidential debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The primary topic of this "Great Debate" was slavery. Statuary and a historical marker note the site of this senatorial debate in Alton's Lincoln Douglas Square. Just two hours north of St. Louis in Springfield, Illinois, is where visitors can tour the historic home of America's 16th president, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Old State Capitol and Lincoln's tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery. In neighboring New Salem, there's a living history museum and a log cabin village where Lincoln lived before his political career began.
Thanks to President Theodore Roosevelt, the "lights were shining" in St. Louis on April 30, 1904. Roosevelt "turned the key" that officially opened the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis from the East Room of the White House. The President later visited the event, more commonly known as the 1904 World's Fair, and was greeted by more than 200,000 cheering fairgoers on November 26, 1904. Today, the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park features an on-going, free exhibit about the Fair. The facilities at Washington University, adjacent to Forest Park, served as the site of the first Olympic Games ever staged in the U.S. The games were held at Washington University's stadium, which is now known as Francis Field. David R. Francis, the St. Louis civic leader who was the president and director of the famous fair, was later appointed as the ambassador to Imperial Russia by President Woodrow Wilson.
Theodore Roosevelt made history in St. Louis on another occasion when he became the first president to ride in an airplane when he boarded a plane at St. Louis' Kinloch Airfield in 1911. Then in 1916, Woodrow Wilson won his party's nomination at the 1916 Democratic Convention, which was held in
St. Louis.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the recipient of a true St. Louis-style gift in 1934. The first case of post-Prohibition Budweiser was delivered to FDR at the White House via the now famous Clydesdales hitch and signature red beer wagon. Since that day, the Clydesdales have become synonymous with Anheuser-Busch and St. Louis, appearing in commercials and at major events and parades throughout the country. Visitors can tour the famous brewery's headquarters in St. Louis throughout the year, and the complimentary tours include a stop at the Clydesdale stables.
In 1935, FDR set the wheels in motion for the future Jefferson National Expansion Memorial by proclaiming the St. Louis riverfront to be a National Historic Site, and authorized the National Parks Service to manage the area. Later that year, Roosevelt visited the city to dedicate a site as a memorial to St. Louisans who lost their lives in World War I. Now known as Soldiers Memorial, the free downtown memorial honors U.S. veterans and war dead from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
"This is one for the books," said Missouri's-own President Harry S Truman when presented with the infamous newspaper bearing the headline, "Dewey Defeats Truman." The celebrated photograph of a victorious Truman holding an erroneous copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune was taken on the back of a train car at St. Louis Union Station on November 3, 1948. Once the world's busiest passenger train station, St. Louis Union Station has found new life as a festival marketplace of shops, restaurants, nightclubs, live entertainment, a Hyatt Regency Hotel, and a man-made lake complete with paddleboats.
The presidents Bush have a strong family connection to St. Louis as well. In 1921, Dorothy Walker, daughter of a successful St. Louis investment banker named George Herbert Walker, married Yale graduate Prescott Bush. Dorothy Walker Bush was the mother of President George Herbert Walker Bush and grandmother of President George Walker "W" Bush. George H. Bush's cousin, St. Louisan George Herbert "Bert" Walker, III, served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary.
While many powerful personalities with ties to St. Louis have sought the highest office in the land, there was one resident who famously rejected an invitation to be a presidential candidate. William Tecumseh Sherman, the fabled Civil War general who helped propel the Union to victory and burned his way through Atlanta, was living in retirement in St. Louis when a telegram arrived at his home in June 1884. The message was from the Republican Convention, which was convening at the time, and it implored him to accept the party's presidential nomination. Sherman's famous reply was immediately telegraphed back to the convention: "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." Visitors can pay their respects at Sherman's grave in St. Louis' Calvary Cemetery.
Updated: February 6, 2008
###
MEDIA NOTE: For more information or photography of St. Louis, send an e-mail to pr@explorestlouis.com or call Becky Sharp at 1-314-992-0652. For up-to-date information about St. Louis, your readers should call the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission at 1-800-916-0040 or check out our website at www.explorestlouis.com. This news release is also available in electronic form. To obtain an electronic version, e-mail your request to pr@explorestlouis.com or go to St. Louis’ online media center at www.explorestlouis.com/media.
