THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S NASHVILLE VISIT - OCTOBER 22, 1907

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  Prior to 1907 it was rare for a Republican president to visit the South. The South had been ravaged by the Civil War. Especially in Middle Tennessee. Republican Presidents weren't popular in these parts for a long time. The Spanish American War in 1898 had given the North and South an opportunity for healing. Northern and Southern boys were serving together in the same army again. Former Confederate Officers like Fighting Joe Wheeler had fought side by side with Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba. Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill had helped catapult him into the presidency and with the South's military tradition it loves military heroes. Nashville gave Roosevelt a warm welcome on the morning of October 22 1907 as his special train arrived at Union Station. On Broad the president climbed into a horse drawn carriage and was accompanied by 30 automobiles. The former Rough Rider was escorted by a troop of Confederate Veteran Cavalry. At 8th & Broad his procession was met by 2000 students from local schools such as the Hume and Fogg Schools, Buford College, the University of Tennessee Medical school, Radnor College, Boscobel College, Belmont College and St. Cecelia Academy. My two oldest sisters attended St. Cecelia in the 1950's and 60's. In May 1963 I stood on the corner of 8th and Broad as John Kennedy passed by on his way to Vanderbilt University. From 8th & Broad Roosevelt was taken to the Ryman Auditorium where he gave his main speech of the day.

 After the speech he boarded a 50 horse power Peerless automobile and began his journey to the Hermitage. The presidential procession drove out 2nd Ave to College Hill. This is the area of 2nd & Lindsley where if you are my age you will remember Howard School and the old Children's Museum. At that time Peabody College, the University of Nashville Medical College and Montgomery Bell Academy were located there. After Roosevelt addressed a crowd, while standing in his car, the procession continued out Lebanon road to the Hermitage. There Roosevelt was met by a crowd of 10,000 people. One of these people was the great grandfather of my wife's best friend Carolyn Robinson Blackford. His name was Thomas Monroe Givan and the picture of Roosevelt, along with a picture of Jackson's tomb were taken by him. Roosevelt was taken on a tour of the Hermitage and he promised to provide Federal funds to help in it's preservation. He was served lunch and this is where the myth was originated that Roosevelt loved Joel Cheeks Maxwell House coffee so much he quipped "This is "good to the last drop" In reality he was served coffee but no one really knows whose coffee that it really was. The Nashville Banner wrote that Roosevelt was quoted as saying "This is the kind of stuff I like, by George, when I hunt bears."

 Fourteen presidents have visited the Hermitage. James Monroe in 1819 to ask Andrew Jackson to become the territorial governor of Florida. Martin Van Buren was Jackson's Vice President and had been a close personal friend. James K. Polk on many occasions, especially in 1844 when he was running for president. Polk was a protege of Jackson and was nicknamed "Young Hickory". Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft in 1910, Theodore's cousin Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, Harry S.Truman, Lyndon Johnson in 1967, Ronald Reagan in 1982, and Donald Trump in 2017. Hayes was probably well received in the South because he ended reconstruction in 1877. Franklin Roosevelt had a replica facade of the Hermitage constructed on the front lawn of the White House as a reviewing stand for his 1937 inaugural parade. FDR was a god in the South because of TVA, rural electrification, and New Deal programs like the WPA and the CCC. He would solidify the Democrat Party's hold on the South for many years to come. Jackson was a hero to Truman and he would have Jackson's clothes measured on his trip in order to have a statue erected in front of the Jackson County court house in Kansas City Missouri. Finally Lady Bird Johnson rode in an actual carriage belonging to Jackson while LBJ walked along beside it.






Roosevelt speaking on College Hill
Theodore Roosevelt Arriving at the Hermitage

Roosevelt at the tomb of Andrew Jackson

Picture taken by Thomas Givan

Thomas Monroe Givan

Thomas Givan as a baby

Thomas Givan and his family- Carolyn's grandfather Robert Thomas Givan is standing on the left

Robert Givan is sitting on the horse
  

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