I was ten years old when I saw President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first president to visit the Iowa State Fair, during its centennial year in 1954.
(He was, in fact, the second president I’d seen. The first one was President Harry S. Truman, at the 1948 National Plowing Match at Dexter, Iowa.)
What was also unique about Eisenhower’s visit in 1954 was that former President Herbert Hoover was with him.
“In recognition of the current and erstwhile president’s appearance, the fair’s organizers announced that they would eliminate the admission fee to the annual agricultural spectacle for the duration of the speech. But not everyone was elated at the idea that Iowans could suddenly attend the fair — and see two famous Republicans — for free.”
A horse caravan consisting of 509 people, 471 horses and 40 covered wagons traveled from Fairfield (the location of the first Iowa State Fair) to the Fairgrounds in Des Moines to officially open the Fair that year.
President Eisenhower also gave an address there, August 30, 1954.
Iowa State Fair Trivia
According to Iowa State Fair Trivia, the presidents who’ve come to the Iowa State Fair were Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower in 1954, Gerald Ford in 1975, Jimmy Carter in 1976 (as a candidate), George W. Bush in 2002, Barack Obama in 2007 (as a candidate) and in 2012 as President, Donald Trump in 2015 (as a candidate); Joe Biden in 2019 (as a candidate), Ronald Reagan broadcasted from the Fair as sports director for WHO radio in the 1930s.