Middle Cities Monitor: January 2009

On January 20, Barack Obama’s improbable road to the White House will culminate with a lavish ceremony in Washington that will likely be attended by a record crowd. Many will look back and marvel at how a young man born in Honolulu will now reside in the White House. But while Obama may have left Honolulu, Honolulu has likely not left Obama. The city on the island is “the place that gave him the ability to ... understand people from a wide array of backgrounds,” says his sister. In fact, that’s true of all presidents. If people are products of their environments, then one key to understanding presidents is to understand their hometowns. Here, their values, traits and aspirations were shaped many years ago. And a surprising number of presidents have hailed from mid-sized cities—communities between 10,000 and 100,000 residents. Here are four presidents, two Democrats and two Republicans, who were heavily influenced by the culture and mores of their mid-sized hometowns:

Though he was born in Kentucky and partly raised in Indiana, Abraham Lincoln claimed Springfield, Illinois as his hometown. The town had a population of 20,000 people when the young lawyer lived there. One of his proudest achievements as a state legislator was helping lead the effort to move the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield where it still resides today. Here in his adopted hometown, he raised a family, became a leader and launched the most storied political career in American history.

He was proud of the city and said so in a moving address he delivered as he departed for Washington to become the 16th president of the United States:

My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington.

This speech marked the last time Lincoln ever saw Springfield. He now is buried in the town cemetery.

Around the time that Lincoln was fighting the Civil War, Woodrow Wilson was growing up in Augusta, Georgia. The town was called home by more than 12,000 residents in 1860. Wilson, then known as “Tommy,” experienced the horrors of the Civil War as well as the challenges of Reconstruction. When he later talked about war as president, he spoke from experience.

Perhaps his most formative development during these years was serving as president of the Lightfoot Baseball Club. This was a group of boys that essentially got together and organized a baseball league. As president of the Lightfoot Baseball Club, "Tommy" wrote the bylaws and even implemented parliamentary procedures during the meetings. It was his first taste of leadership. But not his last.

Years later, he reflected on the impact Augusta had on his life and career: “A boy never gets over his boyhood, and never can change those subtle influences which have become a part of him, that were bred into him when he was a child.”

While President Wilson waged World War I in the White House, a young officer from Independence, Missouri fought it in the trenches. His name was Harry S. Truman. And he too was greatly shaped by his hometown. By the time he later became president, the city had reached only 37,000 residents. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone. Young Truman went to the local Presbyterian Church, met a young Bess Wallace, learned to play the piano and began his lifelong habit of reading. After leaving the White House, Truman returned to his hometown. Here is how he described his coming home:

I've been taking my walks around the city and passing places that bring back wonderful recollections. The Presbyterian Church...where I started to Sunday school at the age of six years, where I first saw a lovely little golden haired girl who is still the lovely lady,...[Bess Wallace Truman]. What a pleasure to be back here at home--once more a free and independent citizen of the gateway city of the old Great West.

While Truman was guiding the country through the 1950s, a young boy was growing up in Midland, Texas. “I don’t know what percentage of me is Midland,” George W. Bush later remembered, “but I say people, if they want to understand me, need to understand Midland and the attitude of Midland.” One of his best friends has gone further saying, “His homage to his parents, his respect for his elders, his respect for tradition, his belief in religion, his opposition to abortion -- that's the philosophy he grew up with here."

Perhaps one specific way Bush’s hometown explains his presidency is the issue of immigration. Another friend recalls that young Bush went with his father to an oil well and spent the night in the family station wagon with many of the rig’s crew, including Mexican immigrants. His friend, Randall Roden, says he and Bush began to realize that immigrants “came for economic opportunity….” Thus the seeds for his later immigration plans may have been first planted in the Midland soil.

Mid-sized cities have clearly had a big time impact on the presidents they produced. Our country is a better place for that influence.

by Kasey Pipes