By Bruce Klauber
The most publicized visit that a sitting United States president made to Atlantic City came in 1964, when the Democratic National Convention was held at Convention Hall. Lyndon Johnson, serving as president since the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy, was officially nominated. The convention and the city received national media attention, not all of it positive.
But a number of other sitting presidents made stops at the “Queen of Resorts” through the years for several reasons. AC was viewed as an essential political stop. Because the town had, and has, a substantial number of conventions, and because Atlantic City has long been known internationally as a famous resort destination, any presidential visit, however brief, would likely get a good deal of press coverage.
Here are some of the more significant stopovers made by those who were sitting presidents at the time of their visits:
In July of 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant had recently won reelection to a second term, and at the invitation of several business leaders in the area, he came to town and stayed at the long-gone United States Hotel, now the site of the Showboat’s parking lot.
Newspaper reports at the time noted that Grant wore his “customary seedy and ill-fitting business suit,” and puffed on his “usual big black cigar.”
Atlantic City was one of a number of campaign stops in New Jersey made by Theodore Roosevelt in the spring of 1912. On or about May 24, his train pulled in to the Tennessee Avenue depot. The president then traveled by motorcade to the Million Dollar Pier, after a brief stop on Kentucky Avenue to make an appeal for the Black vote. He was greeted at the pier by a crowd estimated to be 12,000 strong. He lost his bid for reelection to then-New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson.
Three presidents: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover – visited the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the early years since its 1921 opening.
In addition to his stop at the Ritz, Hoover came to the city on two other occasions during his 1929-1933 term – once for the National Bakers’ Convention, the other to Children’s Seashore House.
Presidential visits to Atlantic City were reported for the next 35 years, though Harry S. Truman visited in May of 1954, after he had been out of office for nearly a year. It wasn’t until June of 1959 that a president of the United States again came to the city.
The date was June 9, 1959, and the locale was Atlantic City’s Convention Hall. The occasion was the 108th meeting of the American Medical Association. The speaker was Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, and the subject of his speech was “the doctor’s influence on civilization.” It was, according to those in attendance, a long speech which covered everything from the issues of old age to the government’s financial responsibility for healthcare.
Though he didn’t stay in the city after his speech, he did return in 1967, six years after his presidency, along with former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, for a quick stop at the Atlantic City Race Course.
At 9:09 a.m. on the morning of May 8, 1962, President John F. Kennedy traveled by U.S. Army helicopter to Atlantic City. The helicopter landed at Bader Field, where he was greeted by, among others, Walter P. Reuther, then president of the United Auto Workers of America. From there he traveled to Convention Hall where he addressed members of the UAW at the organization’s annual convention. Kennedy had been in Atlantic City several times on campaign stops on behalf of the Democratic Party, but this was his only visit as president.
Richard Nixon traveled to the city on June 22, 1971, to address another AMA convention – this one held at Chalfonte-Haddon Hall. Before entering the hotel for the formal meeting, the president addressed a large crowd outside, where Nixon specifically recognized an Atlantic City icon: state Sen. Frank “Hap” Farley.
“Hap said a very nice thing when we came in,” Nixon noted. “He said, ‘You know, Dick, you are in home territory in Atlantic City.’”
Gerald Ford came to the city on Feb. 25, 1974, to address the American Association of School Administrators. There’s no details available on where the speech was given, but Ford did return to Atlantic City in 1976 during his presidential campaign. He spoke on the Boardwalk to members of the New Jersey Education Association.
Ford narrowly lost his bid to become president that year to Jimmy Carter, who made a quick stop in Atlantic City in September of 1978, just months after the first, legal gambling casino opened in the city. Carter spoke at the United Steelworkers Convention, held at Convention Hall. It was a long speech, and no mention was made about the advent of legalized gambling.
George H. W. Bush, and then-New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman met up in Atlantic City on Dec. 5, 1997. Both addressed the New Jersey Summit for Volunteerism.
Bill Clinton had been out of office for nine years in 2010, but he made news on July 23 of that year as the first former or sitting president ever to visit an Atlantic City casino.
As the late and legendary columnist David Spatz reported at the time, “Clinton took the stage of the casino’s 1,500-seat showroom to share his views on the country and the world, and fielded questions from a crowd that paid as much as $350 a seat to be part of an unprecedented event.”
His March 8, 2001, visit as president, was less eventful. While he did take a short and unexpected walk on the Boardwalk, his purpose in town was to address the Asian American Hotel Owners Association at the Convention Center.
George W. Bush was the second former president to visit an Atlantic City casino. He was in town for a mere three hours – 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. – on April 12, 2018, to make a speech at the Freedom Mortgage Leadership Conference, held at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.
The final presidential visit to Atlantic City took place on Oct. 31, 2012. The circumstances were not pleasant. President Barack Obama came to the city, along with Gov. Chris Christie to survey the damage done by SuperStorm Sandy.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
