President Gerald R. Ford’s address at the BYU Activities Center Oct. 2 will mark a rare occasion indeed.
Insofar as the Herald can determine, only three American president previously have appeared here while holding the top office in the land, while a fourth made a Provo appearance just two days before his election as president.
Harry S. Truman, Missouri Democrat and 33rd president, spoke here twice while in office and was in Utah County on two earlier occasions to inspect the Geneva Steel Plant while chairman of the Senate watchdog committee investigating national defense expenditures.
Others, with one appearance each while president, were: – Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president who spoke briefly from a railroad platform here May 9,1891 while Utah was still a Territory. He was introduced by Mayor John E. Booth who sand simply; ”I take pleasure in introducing the greatest man in the greatest government on earth – President Harrison.”
– William Howard Taft, the 27th president. who spoke in the Provo Tabernacle Sept. 24, 1909, following a caravan trip from the railroad depot to “Temple Hill,” where the first BYU Upper Campus building, the Maeser Memorial, was barely under construction. He was accompanied by such former Provo luminaries as Senator Reed Smoot and Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland.
Herbert Hoover, the 31st president, and his wife made a railroad platform appearance in Provo Nov. 4, 1928, two days before the election in which Hoover, the Republican standard bearer, was elected. Hoover graciously greeted the Utah throngs but declined to give a speech, saying a “political address” would not be appropriate on the Sabbath.
Mr. Truman’s first Provo appearance as president was Sept. 21, 1948. On a re-election campaign tour of the West, Truman gave a brief railroad platform address, with stops also at Springville and American Fork. More than 5000 Central Utahns jammed the Provo Union Depot to hear him.
Truman’s second Provo speech came Oct. 6, 1952 during the closing months of his second term when he was supporting Adlai Stevenson, Democratic nominee running against Dwight Eisenhower. On this occasion Truman spoke at the old BYU Stadium.
If any other American presidents have ever spoken in Provo or Utah County we’d appreciate receiving the information to augment our research and that of the BYU news bureau which assisted with these facts.
Vice-presidents who have addressed Provo audiences have included Richard M. Nixon who spoke in the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse Oct. 17, 1958 as vice president to President Eisenhower; Hubert H. Humphrey, vice president under President Lyndon B. Johnson who spoke here Oct. 21, 1966, also at the Fieldhouse; and Spiro T. Agnew, who made two Provo appearances – the first May 8, 1969 in the Fieldhouse and the second Oct. 24, 1972 in the BYU Marriott Center.
While seating policy for the Oct. 2 Ford address is still under study, it appears the 23,000 seats will go mostly to students (enrollment at the ‘Y’ is at the 25,000 mark), with few actually available to the public.
It is expected specific policy will be announced soon so the public will know what to expect. In any event, it will be an honor to have President Ford come to Provo and it is hoped that through the years more American presidents will accept invitations to address Central Utah audiences.