The "Speak Softly: Revisited" Story

Abraham Lincoln speaks in Lancaster in 1861 at the Imprerial Hotel.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a blog on the Lancaster Historical Society's website which is written by Marianne who is the daughter of friends Carol and I have from St. James Church.  In the story she posted titled "Speak Softly...", she tells of the visit to Lancaster in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt.  

Lancaster Train Station in downtown Lancaster.

Wasn't too long ago that I wrote of a visit to Lancaster by Abraham Lincoln while he was on his way to Washington, D.C. for his Inauguration in 1861.  He rode into Lancaster on the train and stopped downtown at the train station.  Directly across the street from the station was the Imperial Hotel.  He stood on the balcony of the hotel, along East Chestnut Street, and addressed the crowd before boarding the train and heading toward D.C.  

Ex-President Theodore Rossevelt speaking at the same location.

As I read Marianne's blog story, I realized that the balcony at the Imperial, later renamed the Brunswick Hotel, was also the platform for Roosevelt on April 10 in 1912.  After exiting the train at Queen and Chestnut, the ex-President made his way through the gathering crowd of several thousand Lancasterians.  

Hotel Brunswick at the corner of Queen and Chestnut streets.
It was first named the Imperial Hotel.

After he reached the balcony he waved his hat to the crowd and began his twenty-minute speech which was, in part, as follows:  "If I were asked to put in a single sentence the progressive creed, I should say that it is a realization of the fact that this country will not be a good place for any man to live in unless it is a pretty fair place for all men to live in.  I know perfectly well that each man's character must ever-remain the fundamental fact determining success in life, but I ask that so far as possible, by law, in every way necessary, we secure equality of opportunity for every man; that we shape our social and industrial conditions so that every man and every woman shall be able, if he or she are of the right stuff to have the conditions of life and work such as to enable them to rise to the exacting duties of American citizenship."  

Richard Nixon was greeted by hoards of Amish on his visit.

Just as when Lincoln passed through Lancaster, Rossevelt exited quickly, getting back on the train and heading west, out of Lancaster.  And then, as I continued reading Marianne's stories, I learned a bit more about Richard Nixon's trip to Lancaster County in 1960.  He was greeted by the Pennsylvania Amish who all wanted to shake his hand.  He too spoke from Lancaster's Brunswick Hotel.  The crowd of thousands greeted him with red roses (the historical flower of The House of Lancaster) and shoo-fly pies.  That year he swept Lancaster County, but lost the presidential election.  Marianne says in her final sentence: "In hindsight, knowing all the Watergate shenanigans, these photos just seem downright creepy."  I agree!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.