Other Presidents Have Visited Isu


by Jennifer Henrich, News Service intern
President Bill Clinton will be the third U.S. president to 
visit Iowa State while holding office. Previous presidential 
visitors were Gerald R. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Clinton is scheduled to be on campus for a National Rural 
Conference on Tuesday, April 25. Vice President Al Gore and 
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman also are scheduled to 
attend the event.

Clinton's visit as president will last longer than 
Eisenhower's on Sept. 21, 1956. Eisenhower and wife Mamie had 
been visiting her relatives in nearby Boone. More than 10,000 
spectators reportedly lined two miles of U.S Highway 30, 
hoping to catch a glimpse of the Eisenhowers. Reports stated 
that Eisenhower's car slowed only once -- near the 
intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Duff Avenue, where the 
First Family was serenaded by an ISU fraternity.

Eisenhower, president from 1953 to 1961, also stopped at Iowa 
State during his first presidential campaign. En route to the 
1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he spoke at a 
celebration sponsored by the Ames Jaycees and visited WOI-TV.

Ford, president from 1974 to 1977, visited the Iowa State 
campus on Oct. 15, 1976, during a campaign trek. At the Iowa 
State Center courtyard, he delivered an address, which, 
according to the student newspaper, included the line, "It's 
great to be here at Ohio . . . Iowa State University." 

After his speech,  Ford lunched at a Boone County farm and 
returned to campus to tour the College of Veterinary 
Medicine. 

While at the veterinary medicine facilities, Ford signed the 
bill that extended to 1978 the Livestock Credit Act of 1974. 
It was the first bill he signed outdoors. He was quoted as 
saying he was "glad to be in the Iowa version of the Rose 
Garden."

Several U.S. presidents visited campus before or after their 
terms in office.

William H. Taft, president from 1909 to 1913, was ISU's 
commencement speaker in 1917. He also visited Ames and Iowa 
State for three days in March 1916.

Ronald Reagan, president from 1981 to 1989, was a guest 
speaker at Veishea opening ceremonies in 1958.

Jimmy Carter, president from 1977 to 1981, attended the 
Democrat's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner at Hilton Coliseum 
Oct. 25, 1975, and may have been on campus another time 
before receiving the Democratic nomination.

Harry S. Truman, president from 1945 to 1953, never visited 
ISU, but started an ISU tradition in 1950 by lighting the 
first Veishea torch. Truman lit the torch in Ottumwa, Iowa, 
while his special train was stopped there. It was then run by 
a 127-student relay team to the ISU campus.

On Nov. 6, 1981, more than 1,200 filled the Memorial Union's 
Great Hall, South Ballroom and Sun Room to hear Vice 
President George Bush explain and defend the Reagan 
Administration's economic and social programs, and defense 
and foreign policies. Bush also attended an awards ceremony 
for the Iowa Community Betterment Program at Hilton Coliseum.

A distinguished ISU alumnus and former U.S. vice president 
once ran for the presidency. Henry A. Wallace, who earned 
B.S. and M.S. degrees in animal husbandry from ISU, was vice 
president from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt. In 1948, he was the Progressive Party's 
presidential candidate.

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contact:  Jennifer Henrich, News Service, (515) 294-4066
updated:  4-21-95