Remember When President Reagan Made His 1980 Visit to Tyler?

Earlier this week the Tyler Police Department shared one of their own memories on their Facebook page. There's a good chance some of you may remember this, too.

Back in 1980, President Ronald Reagan visited Tyler. As you can tell from the photos, the police officers then were quite happy to meet him. Look at those smiles. :)

Some East Texans who commented on the post said that perhaps one of the reasons they were so happy was because of President Reagan's loyal support of police departments in East Texas, and in the nation generally-speaking.

There was an article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph that gave an account of his 1980 campaign trail visit. At one point during the trip he gave a speech at Harvey Hall to the over 3,200 East Texans that had gathered that "he wanted to take home some Tyler roses to plant in the White House garden." He also said "a little bit of Texas never hurts." (Clearly, he was right.)

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But President Ronald Reagan wasn't the only U.S. President to visit Tyler. In fact, the Rose City has been host to many Presidents over the years.

Dayna Worschel of the Tyler Paper reports:

Lyndon B. Johnson launched his 1948 run-off campaign for U.S. Senate in a helicopter. While crisscrossing the state, he landed in Bergfeld Park in Tyler to a crowd of well-wishers at the spot known as “old circus grounds” and gave a campaign speech, according to information from the Smith County Historical Society.

Presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Dwight D. Eisenhower visited, too. As a matter of fact, Eisenhower even LIVED in Tyler when he was just a baby. Some sources say he and his family lived on Rosedale Street, briefly.