Buffalo has a rich presidential history, from being the home of Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, to the place where William McKinley was killed and Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated. Almost every president for more than a century has at least paid a visit to Buffalo, either on the campaign trail, while in office or after he has served.
President William McKinley visited Buffalo on Sept. 4, 1901, for the Pan-American Exposition. While in the region, McKinley toured the Pan-Am grounds and visited Niagara Falls. On Sept. 6, McKinley was shot by Leon Czoglosz and died eight days later.
McKinley is shown touring the Pan Am grounds. He also visited Niagara Falls during his fateful visit to Western New York.
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was vacationing in the Adirondacks when he was called to Buffalo, on Sept. 14, 1901, after learning that McKinley had died. Roosevelt arrived by train that afternoon and took the presidential oath of office later at the home of Ainsley Wilcox. Roosevelt is shown strolling along Delaware Avenue with Ohio Sen. Mark Hanna of Ohio, one of McKinley's top advisers.
President William Howard Taft spent 15 hours in Buffalo on April 30 and May 1, 1910, to speak at a Chamber of Commerce dinner. In this photo, he poses with several community leaders at the home of Ainsley Wilcox, including Wilcox.
New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson was seeking the nation's highest office when he came to Buffalo on Labor Day in 1912. While here, he greeted well-wishers at Braun's Park on Genesee Street and addressed a crowd estimated at 25,000.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Buffalo on Oct. 17, 1936, while he was campaigning for re-election for the first time to dedicate Buffalo's federal courthouse.
President Harry S. Truman came to Buffalo at least twice, in 1948 and 1952. This photo is undated but appears to show Truman walking down Delaware Avenue with reporters.
When Herbert C. Hoover School in the Town of Tonawanda was dedicated in 1951, its namesake former president was a part of the festivities. Here, Hoover, holding his hat in his right hand, listens as Monsignor Charles A. Klauder, then-pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Tonawanda, delivers a prayer.
Just weeks before he defeated Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 general election, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed a crowd of 21,000 in Memorial Auditorium. His wife, Mamie, is behind him to his left.
Eisenhower was greeted at the train that day by Mayor Joseph Mruk and Erie County Republican Chairman Harry Forhead.
In May 1959, a year and a half before he was elected president, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy was the principal speaker at the Erie County Democratic Committee Grover Cleveland Dinner in the Statler Hilton.
Kennedy made a late campaign stop to Buffalo in September of 1960.
President Kennedy and Erie County Democratic Chairman Peter J. Crotty outside Buffalo City Hall On Oct. 14, 1962.
On Oct. 15, 1964, less than a year after taking office following the assassination of President Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson made Buffalo a campaign stop. Here he addresses a throng in Niagara Square.
This is what Johnson saw as he looked out on the crowd on Oct. 15, 1964.
And this is what someone far from the stage would have seen.
Johnson returned to Buffalo in 1966.
The president and first lady Ladybird Johnson got a view of Canada from Lake Erie while in town that day.
President Gerald Ford, who ascended to the office after the resignation of Richard Nixon, visited Buffalo on Oct. 31, 1976, as part of a flurry of campaign stops before the general elections. Ford made several visits in his 2-1/2 hour stopover in Buffalo. He worshiped at the morning Mass at St. Stanislaus Church with 1,200 parishioners, and continued on to a breakfast with 2,000 supporters at the Statler Hilton.
Ford with Rep. Jack Kemp and then-Erie County Executive Ned Regan in 1976.
A year after being defeated by Jimmy Carter in the general election, Ford returned to Buffalo to speak at the Statler.
President Jimmy Carter visited Buffalo on Oct. 28, 1978, for a brief speech at Prior Aviation where he endorsed New York Gov. Hugh Carey’s re-election campaign. While in town, Love Canal protesters flocked to his speech to voice their disapproval of how Carey’s administration was handling their situation.
Carter waves to supporters at Prior Aviation. With him are Mayor Jimmy Griffin, Carey and Reps. Henry Nowak and John LaFalce.
Ronald Reagan, here with Erie County GOP chairman Albert N. Abgott and Rep. Jack Kemp, was still known as the former governor of California in October 1979 when he spoke at a dinner at the Buffalo Convention Center.
Carter stopped in Niagara Falls on Oct. 1, 1980, on a campaign stop to accept the endorsement of the state's largest public employees labor union. Carter spoke to 1,400 delegates in the Niagara Falls Convention Center.
Reagan returned to Buffalo in the fall of 1980 as a declared candidate to seek the support of organized labor. At the Port of Buffalo, he also pledged to renew the maritime industry.
Before his 1996 debate with Sen. Bob Dole, President Bill Clinton prepared at Chautauqua Institution. He arrived in Buffalo on Oct. 3 and made a brief speech to the crowd that gathered at the airport before departing by military helicopter to Chautauqua.
Clinton waves to supporters before departing for Chautauqua.
Looking for support following the scandal that almost led to his impeachment, President Bill Clinton came to Buffalo on Jan. 20, 1999, and addressed an estimated 17,000 people at what was then called Marine Midland Arena.
Clinton looked for hands to shake during his 1999 appearance in Buffalo.
Former President George H.W. kicked off the 12th annual distinguished speaker series, at the University at Buffalo on Sept. 29, 1999.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush came to Buffalo in 1999 looking for support for his 2000 presidential run. He and Gov. George Pataki greeted supporters in a packed Prior Aviation lobby.
During the same visit, the future president held a news conference at Mount Olive Baptist church.
Gov. Bush speaking at Mount Olive.
During a Buffalo stop on May 13, 2010, President Barack Obama stopped for chicken wings at Duff's in Cheektowaga.
Obama mingled with diners at Duff's, and got a hug from a woman who, famously, told him he was a "hotty."
Obama spoke to a crowd at the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena on Aug. 22, 2013.
Audience members scramble to catch Obama's attention following his speech at UB.
On Jan. 31, 2014 Donald Trump was the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the Erie County Republican Committee Lincoln Leadership Reception at Salvatore's Italian Gardens.
Trump got a standing ovation when he was called onstage by Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy.
Then-Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan introduced then-Republican presidential candidate Trump at a campaign event at the First Niagara Center in April.
Trump checks out the crowd during his campaign event on April 18.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pay respects to victims of the shooting at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue on May 17, 2022.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden disembark from Air Force One at Buffalo Niagara International Airport on May 17, 2022.
Should Gov. Andrew Cuomo resign or be impeached, Hamburg's Kathy Hochul would become the 57th governor of New York and, as frequently mentioned, the first woman.
