Trump rally would be rare presidential appearance in Salina
President Donald Trump's planned rally in Salina on Saturday, Oct. 31, would be one of the few times a sitting president has made a public appearance in the city.
The last confirmed public appearance by a sitting president in Salina was Theodore Roosevelt's speech on May 2, 1903. Roosevelt spoke to a crowd from Salina and nearby Bethany College during a national tour. He talked about Kansas farm production, local schools, the importance of character and lessons from football.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower passed through the area while in office. Archive photos show him arriving at Schilling Air Force Base in Salina in 1958 and 1959 on trips to Abilene, his hometown, including the 1959 groundbreaking for the Eisenhower Library. No record reviewed shows that he held a public event in Salina on either trip.
Two other men who later became president spoke in Salina before taking office. Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned in the city on Oct. 5, 1920, as the Democratic nominee for vice president. John F. Kennedy spoke at Marymount College on Nov. 20, 1959, while he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
No Salina visit was found for Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, either President Bush, Barack Obama or Trump during his first term. Their recorded Kansas stops were in other cities.
Trump's rally is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, with doors opening at 8:30 a.m., according to the official registration page. The venue has not been announced.
Salina311 will update this story if records of other presidential visits are found.
