Corpus Christi and presidential politics
With the 2024 Presidential election behind us, one would think that the candidates would have eventually made their way down to our part of the country, seeking our votes. Corpus Christi's population is not necessarily massive, but we do have one of the busiest and most important ports in the United States. But, in some ways, Corpus Christi has always been seen as being a little "off the beaten path"....especially when it comes to visits by sitting Presidents and Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates during election campaigns.
Ironically, in 1846, six years before the city would become incorporated, four future Presidents walked the streets of Corpus Christi. They were all members of the United States Army, sent to Corpus Christi by President James K. Polk after Texas was annexed by the U.S. in 1845. That army, led by Gen. Zachary Taylor, came to Corpus Christi in the summer of 1845 to confront Mexico over a border dispute that would lead to war. Taylor's victory in the War with Mexico would propel him into the White House in 1848. (Taylor would die in July 1850 after only 16 months in office). Future Presidents Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) and Ulysses S Grant (1869-1877) were also members of Taylor's army in Corpus Christi. A Colonel in Taylor's army in Corpus Christi was Gen. Taylor's son-in-law, Jefferson Davis. He, too, would become a President....of the Confederate States of America (1861-1865).
President William Howard Taft was the first sitting President to come to CC in October 1909. He had taken office in March 1909. He was a one-term President known for his hefty 350-pound size. But he is also the only President to serve as Chief Justice on the Supreme Court. He mainly visited our area to visit his half brother, Charles Taft, at the nearby Taft Ranch. But Taft agreed to attend the opening of the new Corpus Christi Country Club on North Beach, where he shot the first ceremonial tee on the club's new golf course. He also delivered a speech to a crowd of 15,000 assembled just below the Bluff in downtown Corpus Christi.
The next Presidential visit to our area did not come until 1937 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Port Aransas to do some tarpon fishing in the Gulf.....and get out of the heated political climate in Washington, D.C. The President came at the invitation of his son, Elliot, who had visited Port Aransas the year before. President Roosevelt returned to Corpus Christi on April 21, 1943, arriving by train with the President of Mexico, Avila Camacho. The two Presidents would tour the Naval Air Station and meet with cadets in training, some of whom were Mexican pilots.
Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Bob Dole held a campaign rally in Exposition Hall in 1976, but it was almost 40 years after FDR's visit before a sitting President would come to Corpus Christi. President Carter came to Corpus Christi in 1980 for a town hall meeting at Moody HS. That year, Edward Kennedy, challenging Carter for the Democratic Party nomination, campaigned in Corpus Christi as did Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.
Reagan would win the 1980 election and return to C.C. as President in 1984 to campaign for re-election. He landed at CC International aboard Air Force One.....quite an impressive sight! That version of Air Force One, a Boeing 707, was taken out of service on Aug 29, 2001. It is now on permanent display today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
The Democratic candidate in 1984 was Walter Mondale. He, too, held a campaign rally in Corpus Christi at Buc Stadium. In 1988, both Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and his running mate, Loyd Bentsen, campaigned in the city.
One month before the October visit of Dukakis, Vice-President George H.W. Bush, the Republican nominee, attended the 40th convention of the American G.I. Forum at Bayfront Plaza.
By 2008, most of the Presidential candidates had added Corpus Christi to their campaign stops or would send well-known people to campaign on their behalf. On February 20, 2008, Senator Edward Kennedy appeared at Richardson Auditorium to campaign for Presidential contender Barack Obama.
Three days later, Obama himself attended a campaign rally at the American Bank Center. Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, Hilary Clinton, appeared at a rally in Robstown. In 2016, when Mrs. Clinton became the Democratic nominee, she appeared in Corpus Christi and brought along her husband to help with the campaign.
The last time that Corpus Christi hosted a sitting President was in August 2017, when Donald Trump came to survey damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Visits to Corpus Christi by Presidents and Presidential nominees have declined in recent years, probably due to the fact that Texas has come to be considered a solid "Red" (Republican) state. Campaigns today focus instead on the "Swing States" where the race is tight or on visits to the major metropolitan areas like Dallas and Houston that attract more media attention.
