Seattle is making national headlines almost daily as “the epicenter of resistance to Trump’s Agenda.” Our city has drawn U.S. Presidents to this northwest corner of the country since before Washington even achieved statehood. For Presidents’ Day, let’s take a look back at a few Presidential visits to the Emerald City.
President Benjamin Harrison, 1891
A First Ave. parade celebrating Harrison’s visit. Photo credit: Dorsaz & Schwerin, Washington State Archives
President William Taft, 1911
President Taft was stung by a bee during his 1911 visit to Seattle. Photo credit: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1932
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt visited polio patients at Children’s Hospital. Photo credit: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1942
FDR visited Seattle as part of a secret nationwide tour of World War II defense plants and military bases. He toured the Boeing plant and watched work on a B-17 Flying Fortress. Photo credit: BPA archive
President John F. Kennedy, 1961
A visit to Seattle’s Olympic Hotel for a tribute dinner to Sen. Warren Magnuson. Photo credit: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
President Richard Nixon, 1972
Richard Nixon agreed to a puffy, local interview with KOMO News, but the interview turned out to be filled with hard-hitting questions about the Vietnam War and America’s broken cities. Nixon wasn’t pleased. Photo credit: Associated Press
President Ronald Reagan, 1984
Reagan slipped on the steps of Air Force One at Boeing Field. Photo credit: Seattle Post-Intelligencer