Sylvester Stallone may be in town this week to film some more scenes for his TV show, but 60 years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson was here to lobby for his “war on poverty.”
The Gainesville stop was one of several during a five-state swing across the country to promote idea which Johnson had kicked off earlier in the year during his State of the Union speech.
After a breakfast meeting and speech in Atlanta, Johnson helicoptered to the Gainesville airport, where he was welcomed by numerous local and state leaders and the Gainesville High School band.
The official welcome was not given by the mayor or the county commission chairman or the head of the chamber of commerce or some other government, business or civic leader. But that honor went to a 12-year-old boy, Charles Overby, a recipient of a Carnegie Hero Fund bronze medal.
After the welcoming ceremony at the airport, a motorcade carried Johnson and his entourage to downtown Gainesville.
Johnson spoke at Roosevelt Square, using the same podium that President Franklin D. Roosevelt used in 1936 when he visited Gainesville in the wake of the deadly and devastating tornado that struck the city on April 6 that year. Johnson made an impassioned plea for not only passage of his war on poverty, authored by then-9th District Congressman Phil Landrum, but the Civil Rights Act, as well.
It was LBJ’s second visit to Gainesville in four years. In May 1960, he campaigned here while running for Vice President on the Democratic ticket with John F. Kennedy.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Photos courtesy The Hall County Library System, frequency.com, the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, and YouTube.)
The Gainesville High School Band performed at the welcoming ceremony at the airport.
The crowd downtown filled the area between city hall and the county courthouse (in the background).
An estimated 40,000 people jammed Roosevelt Square for the speech.
President Johnson traveled from Atlanta to Gainesville in Marine One.
In addition to downtown, there was a crowd of people at the airport and along the motorcade route from the airport to Roosevelt Square.
Johnson stopped at the home of Mrs. Eva Russell while on his way from the airport to downtown.
Johnson made an impassioned speech calling for passage of the war on poverty legislation and the Civil Rights Act.
Johnson also stopped at a store owned and operated by the A.J. Buttlers since 1910. The Buttlers and many of their neighbors were there to welcome him. Johnson was being escorted by Gainesville Mayor Henry Ward, who is pictured to Johnson’s right.