History

Presidents Visiting Texarkana

March 16, 2014

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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]exarkana has had no less than 7 current or future presidents come through town. Starting with President Taft in 1909 who came through Union Station on a train.

1. President William Howard Taft – October 24, 1909

President William Howard Taft (No. 27) met with President Díaz of Mexico in El Paso on October 17, 1909. This was the first time in history a United States President and Mexican President met. THe President also used this trip to do some campaigning and would stop a make short speeches at train stations. The day before he was in Houston.

A Texarkana resident name Cyrill reported in 1909

President Taft passed through here last Sunday, Papa Stated there was 20,000 people there to see and hear him. The President was so hoarse he could not talk much. It was such a jam in the crowd that several ladies fainted and Papa said he almost fainted from the heat himself it was so suffocating. One women cried and screamed like a child.

“Taft at Texarkana railroad depot,” Texarkana Museums System Archives, accessed March 17, 2014, http://tmsarchives.omeka.net/items/show/98.

2. Senator John F. Kennedy – September 13, 1960

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ohn F Kennedy, at the time a Senator from Massachusetts, driving down East Broad Street while on a campaign stop for the 1960 presidential election.

3. President Lyndon B. Johnson – September 25, 1964

LBJ came to Texarkana with Lady Bird Johnson for the Dedication of John F. Kennedy Square. He gave a speech at the square in front of the federal courthouse.

On that September day 4 years ago when John Fitzgerald Kennedy came here to Texarkana and spoke to you, he had this to say:
“Lyndon Johnson and I seek to represent the United States in a very difficult and a very dangerous period. We do not run for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency promising that if we are elected life will be easier.
“But we do promise you that if we are elected this country will begin to move again. This country will move forward. This country will stand strong. This country’s brightest days will be ahead.”

Full Speech

“President Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson and Congressman Wright Patman at Texarkana JFK memorial dedication, 1964,” Texarkana Museums System Archives, accessed March 16, 2014, http://tmsarchives.omeka.net/items/show/102.

4. President Jimmy Carter – October 22, 1980

President Jimmy Carter came to Texarkana to campaign for the 1980 Presidential Election that he would later go on to lose. Bill Clinton was all in attendance at the time the Attorney General of Arkansas. AP Photo of Clinton & Carter

carreer — “President Jimmy Carter campaigning in Texarkana,” Texarkana Museums System Archives, accessed March 17, 2014, http://tmsarchives.omeka.net/items/show/100.