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Dwight D. Eisenhower Fishing, 1960

Dwight D. Eisenhower and his brothers on a fishing trip proudly exhibit muskies and northern pike on a Wisconsin lake. From left are Dwight, Edgar, Milton, and Roy Eisenhower. View the original source document: WHI 2095

Monday, February 18th, is Presidents Day this year, and while no Wisconsin native has gone on to live in the White House, many of its occupants have visited our state before, during, or after their time in the oval office. The first was Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), who commanded U.S. Army troops in Wisconsin between 1832 and 1837. Under his charge was Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), who not only eloped with Taylor's daughter but would later lead the Confederacy during the Civil War. Davis' great adversary, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), was also in Wisconsin at the time.

As a soldier in the Black Hawk War, Lincoln marched in July 1832 from the state line at Beloit up to Fort Atkinson, where he was mustered out before returning home to Illinois to start his political career. He may have returned in 1835 to mend a broken heart (the evidence is assessed here), and he came back in 1859 to give speeches at Milwaukee and Janesville. At the latter place, Lincoln came down to breakfast barefoot after losing his boots in the night, according to Madison banker Lucien Hanks (1838-1926), who spent the night with him.

After Lincoln, presidents visited Wisconsin often. Madison barber Herman Gaertner, who came here from Germany in 1868, had a unique perspective on presidents: he shaved them and cut their hair (and gave this interview about his career). In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was shot in Milwaukee during a campaign stop. Claiming, "It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose," he gave his speech anyway while blood soaked through his shirt.

Assassination attempts were not a regular feature of presidential visits to Wisconsin. Most chief executives made less eventful trips. Hoover, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, and George W. Bush are among the other presidents who visited our state.

• See photos of them (not just campaigning but also fishing in funny hats).
• View a nine-page article printed in the Milwaukee Journal in 1929 that gives more details on presidential visitors, from Taylor to Hoover.