Visit is first of its kind for Valley

Obama at GM Lordstown

Video

President Barack Obama's complete speech at GM Lordstown, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009

President Barack Obama at Lordstown

Gallery

President Barack Obama gears up Lordstown for the Cruze.

President Obama is first sitting president to visit the Valley in a non-election year.

By Rick Rouan

The number at the end of Tuesday’s date – 2009 – is odd, by any definition.

Before President Barack Obama arrived at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, no sitting president had visited the Mahoning Valley during an odd-numbered, non-election year, Vindicator files show.

“It’s a very important moment in our history,” said Bill Lawson, Mahoning Valley Historical Society executive director.

The historical society collects newspaper clippings and keepsakes of past presidential visits to the Valley, but it does not have any relics from visits in a non-election year, Lawson said.

Vindicator files show that sitting presidents have visited the Valley on several occasions, including stops by Jimmy Carter in 1980, Bill Clinton in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2004.

Clinton spoke to throngs of people on July 4, 1996, about obtaining money to expand the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport if he was re-elected. The president was visiting to help celebrate Youngstown’s bicentennial, and his trip was documented by The Vindicator with four stories and six photos, dominating the front page.

Bush visited twice in 2004, once for a health-care talk at Youngstown State University and again to speak to the 15,000 people who had contended with hours-long traffic jams to hear his 45-minute campaign speech at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

But not all of the fanfare has come for politicians who ride on Air Force One. Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy visited the Valley in motorcades as they sought election for the first time.

Kennedy had one of the largest turnouts on record. Vindicator files show police estimated that 60,000 people crowded Market Street to hear Kennedy speak about the sore state of the steel industry.

“The Massachusetts senator was given one of the most spectacular welcomes ever accorded a political leader in eastern Ohio,” the newspaper reported.

Obama’s speech draws parallels to Kennedy’s visit in spite of the fact that he is not yet seeking re-election.

Obama spoke at the GM Lordstown plant about unemployment in Ohio and the Valley, which is heavily dependent on manufacturing and auto industry jobs.

“I think, considering how historic his whole presidency is, that he chose Lordstown and the Mahoning Valley at this time of financial uncertainty, I think he probably sees it as a beacon of hope for the auto industry,” Lawson said.

rrouan@vindy.com