News Team Boulder

Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: News

President Obama visits the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Tuesday to sign his $787 billion economic stimulus package into law. It is very rare for presidents to sign major pieces of legislation outside of the White House, and the signing ceremony marks the first time a sitting president has come to the museum.

But throughout its history, the Centennial State has had many moments of presidential prestige. Here are some of the more memorable Commander in Chief visits to Colorado:



1905 -- President Theodore Roosevelt began a bear hunt from Divide Creek near Glenwood Springs. Roosevelt had visited the hot springs town as vice president, but his presidential visit led to the Glenwood mainstay Hotel Colorado being dubbed the "Little White House of the West."













1919 -- In Pueblo on September 25, President Woodrow Wilson gave his last speech advocating
the League of Nations, aimed at international reorganization and cooperation after World War I.
The effort of pushing for the League ruined Wilson's health, and shortly after the Pueblo speech, he collapsed with a debilitating stroke. The United States never joined the League of Nations.










1955 -- While visiting in-laws, President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a serious heart attack and was treated at the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Aurora. He would survive another 13 more years, long enough for another term as president. The same year, Eisenhower stayed at the downtown-Denver Brown Palace Hotel, and, legend has it, left a dent in the fireplace in his suite while practicing his golf swing.













1972 -- President Gerald Ford discovered Vail
in 1968, while still a congressman, and returned regularly as vice president and after being elected to the highest office. Though he tried to be a regular Vail guy, Ford always created a spectacle, racing down the ski slopes with a train of Secret Service agents behind him.

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