On the Trail of US Presidents

In September, we took one of our Midwest driving trips, visited many (23) friends and family along the way, and made several new tourist stops. These included two sites established to commemorate U.S. Presidents who fought for their country: The Eisenhower National Historic Site outside Gettysburg, Pa., and Indiana’s Tippecanoe Battlefield, where President William Henry Harrison made his mark on U.S. military history.

You may wonder why Ike, our 34th President, settled in the rolling hills of rural Pennsylvania. “Hey, wait, wasn’t he born in Texas?” “Didn’t he grow up in Kansas?” You’re right! But, after his presidency, he settled near Gettysburg. His ancestors had lived in Central Pennsylvania, and I believe the park ranger said that, as a child, Ike spent a lot of time there. Also, in retirement, he was still consulting with the government, and the farm was a (relatively) short commute to D.C.

So, that’s why. Now to the what. The farm is a beautiful piece of property and, when the Eisenhowers bought it in 1950, it included a smallish house that had to be rebuilt. More than most historic houses, this one is filled with the Eisenhowers’ own furnishings and decorations (a lot of “Mamie pink”). We saw the sunporch where the couple reportedly ate their dinners on tv trays, watching the evening news (!). The house had generous accommodations for guests, and an office for Ike that couldn’t have been larger than 8’ x 10’. Here, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, who directed the Normandy landings on D-Day, carried out his work, modestly and efficiently.

You can tour the house and grounds, garage (presidential limousine!), barns, and the farm he and his partners established that raised prize-winning Black Angus cattle.

And, if you also want to tour the battlefield while you’re there (which we have done numerous times, not this trip), the downtown Hotel Gettysburg is a lovely spot.

The Tippecanoe Battlefield and Museum is a national historic landmark a little over an hour northwest of Indianapolis. At 96 acres, it’s small (much smaller than Ike’s farm!). On 7 November 1811, a decisive battle occurred there between U.S. forces and the Native American Confederation and a bloody prelude to the War of 1812.

The Americans were led by William Henry Harrison, later elected the ninth U.S. President—the last one born as a British subject. He died of a fever after only one month in office. (We’ve seen his monument outside Cincinnati.)

The Native Americans were a large, multi-tribal community led by the famous Shawnee chief Tecumseh and his younger brother Tenskwatawa, called The Prophet. The brothers, who had seen Natives repeatedly displaced from their homelands to the east, vociferously advocated that they reject European ways and return to a traditional lifestyle.

Tecumseh traveled to the South in 1811 to recruit more allies for the confederation and warned his brother not to attack the encroaching U.S. military forces until he returned. On the fateful day, the Prophet nevertheless ordered a pre-dawn attack. The Natives were defeated, their community destroyed, and their hope of continued settlement in the Great Lakes Region went down with them. In retaliation, Tecumseh sided with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812.

Adjacent to the Battlefield, the Tippecanoe County Historical Association operates a small museum with thoughtful displays that put the battle in context.

Two very different historical sites. Both well worth a visit!

Cincinnati: Politics and Porker

flying-pig, Cincinnati

photo labeled for reuse: ArtWorks Cincinnati

From before the Civil War to the career of John Boehner, southwest Ohio has been steeped in politics. So maybe it should come as no surprise that later this week the president-elect is launching his “thank you” tour in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, the city’s renown as the pig processing capital of the country earned it the sobriquet “porkopolis,” as a Cincy native recently reminded me. In the early 1800s, herds of pigs trammeled the streets. No more, we were glad to learn when we visited the sites below, though an ArtWorks project means you encounter gaily painted flying pigs all around town.

Politics and pork, together forever. Or was that politics and poker?

Harriet Beecher Stowe House

Stowe’s dramatic 1852 novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, sold more than 1.5 million copies its first year and has been translated into some 75 languages. Historians credit her depiction of the horrors of slavery and the desperation of runaway slaves as energizing the U.S. anti-slavery movement. She based the book on her own experiences. She’d seen slaves in nearby Kentucky and the repugnant activities of slave-hunters in Ohio (a free state) after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, and she could convey the profound sense of loss her characters experienced, based on her own grief after the death of her son Charlie. She lived in this house as a young woman, and the Ohio History Connection has added displays about Cincinnati at the time, including one on the whole porkopolis thing.

William Henry Harrison Tomb and Monument

A few miles west of downtown, along a winding Ohio River drive to North Bend, you’ll find the tomb and monument to ninth U.S. President William Henry Harrison (“Old Tippecanoe”). He’d already had a lengthy military and political career before becoming president at age 68, only to die after a month in office. He was pro-slavery and negotiated numerous extortionate treaties with the Indians that resulted in the loss of their lands. Although he came from a wealthy Virginia family, he pioneered modern campaign techniques, representing himself as a humble “man of the people.” This timely quote from President Harrison’s Inaugural Address is carved on one of the memorial’s stones:

“As long as the love of power is a dominant passion of the human bosom, and as long as the understandings of men can be warped and their affections changed by operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation.”

William Howard Taft House

william-howard-taft

Anders Zorn, Portrait of William Howard Taft, 1911

Taft was the nation’s 27th President and 10th Chief Justice, his favorite job. He lived in this house as a child and young adult. A Republican, he served as Governor of the Philippines and Teddy Roosevelt’s Secretary of War, Vice-President, and right-hand man. (When Roosevelt sent feisty daughter Alice to Asia with a delegation headed by Taft, one of the chief inducements for her was the opportunity to hobnob with another famous Cincinnati politician in the group, her future husband Nicholas Longworth.)

Roosevelt was disappointed in Taft’s presidency, though, and ran against his re-election in 1912, splitting the Republican vote and assuring a victory for Woodrow Wilson. Taft was much happier as Chief Justice and worked almost daily, modernizing Supreme Court procedures and practices. The nicely maintained house and National Park Service’s visitor center provide an interesting glimpse into the impressive contributions of the entire Taft family to life in Cincinnati and the nation.

What To Read Between Stops

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin, of course, the most popular book of the 19th Century! An American classic.
  • The Carnival Campaign: How the Rollicking 1840 Campaign of “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too” Changed Presidential Elections Forever by Ronald G. Shafer