Presidents of the United States visit many states during their tenures. Maine is no exception.
President Kennedy at the wheel of the US Coast Guard Yacht “Manitou,. Boothbay Harbor, August 12, 1962
Sometime in 1789 George Washington visited Kittery on a fishing trip.
In 1841, recently elected President William Henry Harrison visited Bath and the Clark and Sewall shipyard, where he witnessed the launch of the Rappahannock, at the time the largest vessel in the world.
On July 3, 1847 James K. Polk visited Augusta.
On August 12, 1873 President Ulysses S. Grant arrived in Augusta by train for a 3-day visit with U.S. Speaker of the House, James G. Blaine.
August 27, 1902 Theodore Roosevelt visited Bangor for a speech.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower vacationed at the Parmachenee Camps in Lynchtown Township on June, 25 1955, followed by a visit to Skowhegan on June 27th.
On August 12, 1962 President John F. Kennedy vacationed in Maine, at the wheel of the US Coast Guard Yacht Manitou near Boothbay Harbor. On September 2, 1960 he was the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1932 to visit Bangor. He then traveled to Presque Isle in northern Maine and Portland in the south. Kennedy was the first President to visit the University of Maine, where he delivered a foreign policy address in Orono on October 19, 1963, just thirty-four days before his assassination.
President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Lewiston in 1966 to deliver a speech, then passed through Topsham to sample ice-cream at the Dairy Queen.
President Jimmy Carter at the Bangor Auditorium on February 18, 1978
In 1976, President Jimmy Carter participated in a “town hall” meeting in Bangor at the Bangor Auditorium on February 18, 1978.
George H.W. Bush began “visiting” Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport as President in the 1980s, President George W. Bush began after his inauguration in 2001.
Additional resources
Earle Shettleworth. Maine State Historian. (Washington visit.)
Meredith Goad. “All the Presidents’ Yens.” Maine Sunday Telegram. February 14, 2021.
President Carter photo. National Archives, photo ID=24-0699a NLC-WHSP-C-04413-29.gif
President Kennedy photo. National Archives, photo ID=04-0124a.gif