From White House to Wyoming. The Presidents Who Came to Cody Yellowstone

CODY, Wyo., February 3, 2022 – Nearly every U.S. president since Ulysses S. Grant has visited the state of Wyoming before, during or after their terms in office. Of those presidents, several have ventured to northwestern Wyoming’s Cody Yellowstone, which includes the town of Cody as well as parts of Yellowstone National Park and a large swath of land to the east of the park boundaries.

“With the approach of President’s Day Weekend, it’s a good time to remember the many presidents who have explored northwestern Wyoming throughout history,” said Ryan Hauck, executive director of Cody Yellowstone. “Some came to play while others came to make a point, but regardless of the reason for their travel, this authentic Western playground certainly made an impression on the many U.S. Presidents who visited.”

One of those presidents was Chester A. Arthur, who visited the region in 1883 with a large entourage, intent on having an authentic Western experience.  Arthur was known to be bit of a dandy, and in a nod to Western style during a two-month vacation during his term, he covered his business suit with knee-length leather leggings. Arthur kept in touch with the outside world and engaged in presidential

business by one daily mail courier on horseback who delivered and received Arthur’s messages.

Here are a few other examples of presidential visits to Cody Yellowstone:

• President Calvin Coolidge visited Cody on July 4, 1927 for the opening of the Buffalo Bill Museum, the first of five museums that comprise the Buffalo Bill Center of the West today. He also attended the Cody Stampede, a July 4 Cody tradition with multiple days of rodeos, parades and other events. While in the region, Coolidge ventured into Yellowstone National Park and stayed one night in the private home owned by Harry W. Child, owner of then-concessioner Yellowstone Park Company.
• President Joe Biden first visited Yellowstone National Park in 1974 when he was a U.S. Senator. With his young sons Beau and Hunter in tow, and just two years after the tragic deaths of his wife and young daughter in a car accident, Biden rented a camper and spent a week in the park in the hopes of trying to heal some of the emotional wounds that lingered on. He said his inspiration for the trip was in part because his sons loved
  

  Barack Obama and his family at Old Faithful.

  the Yogi Bear cartoons. He said, “This (trip) gave nourishment to the body and soul. I can’t even explain it. But it was real.” Years later, Vice President Joe Biden visited the park to promote a massive stimulus package aimed at improving infrastructure and creating jobs in the country’s national parks. “For too long, our national jewels have been neglected,” he said. “If we are booming, things in the park still needed to be done. We’re beginning to polish, once again, these national jewels.”

• Theodore Roosevelt was a big fan of the state, and he made several trips during his presidential tenure and returned to Wyoming to vacation after he left Washington. The robust president was far more of a natural in Western-style clothing and activities than some of his predecessors. He was a frequent visitor to Yellowstone, and he made his final visit to the park in 1903 during a two-week vacation. During that trip, he laid the cornerstone for the park’s Roosevelt Arch, bearing the inscription: “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Although the arch is in the state of Montana at the northern entrance to Yellowstone, Wyoming celebrates the grand structure too, as most of the park is in Wyoming.

• Years later, Theodore’s fifth cousin Franklin took office, and he also left his mark on Yellowstone Country. Some would argue it wasn’t a positive mark, as it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942. As a result, some 14,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Confinement Site during World War II. Another interesting tidbit about the publicity-conscious president: When he visited the park, he avoided the park hotels, many with multiple floors and no elevators, and instead was a guest of the lodge manager in his single-floor park home, which could better accommodate his wheelchair while at the same time keeping it from public view.

• President Bill and first lady Hillary Clinton took a stroll around Old Faithful Geyser in 1995.

• President Barack Obama and his family visited Yellowstone in 2009 and had lunch in the park’s Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

• President Jimmy Carter fished in Lake Yellowstone and then returned to the park after his presidency and dined in the employee pub at the park’s Lake Lodge. He even signed the wall of the pub, and his signature is still visible today.

• President George H.W. Bush visited Yellowstone in 1989 to survey the devastation of the 1988 fires. Park officials briefed the president about fire science. Bush also fished in a river near Cody and visited Pahaska Tepee, Buffalo Bill Cody’s hunting lodge.

• President Warren Harding visited the park in 1923, shortly before he died. Upon learning of his death, staff in the park named a geyser after him and observed a moment of silence in his honor.

• Although he never visited Yellowstone, the country’s 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant, arguably had the most lasting impact on the region. In 1872, Grant signed the bill that designated Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, a move which is often called “America’s Best Idea.”

###

 

Home of the Great American Adventure, Cody Yellowstone is comprised of the northwestern Wyoming towns of Cody, Powell and Meeteetse as well as areas inside of Yellowstone National Park and the valley east of the entrance. The region is known for rodeos, authentic guest and dude ranches, world-class museums and recreational adventures that reflect the adventurous spirit of the visionaries and explorers who brought the remote region to the world’s attention.

 

Related hashtags:

#YellowstoneCountry

#CodyWyoming

#CenteroftheWest

#BuffaloBill

#Yellowstone

#ThatsWY

 

Media contact:

Mesereau Travel Public Relations

720-284-1512

[email protected]

[email protected]