President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Makes a Whistle-stop in Olathe

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Makes a Whistle-stop in Olathe. . "I am glad to get into Kansas again..." , President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ("FDR") told the audience in Syracuse, Kansas in 1936. The president was returning to Washington, D.C. after a campaign trip by train to Colorado. When he reached Olathe at 3:50pm on October 13th, he was greeted by some 10,000 people gathered at this location. The crowd cheered as the train rolled in from the south and stopped so that FDR could speak to the audience from the platform at the end of the caboose. The Olathe News published a special edition of the paper just to inform Olatheans of his visit, which was not confirmed until 9:30 p.m. the day before. Stores and schools closed across the entire county to allow everyone to attend. , FDR's Republican rival in 1936 was Kansas governor Alfred Landon. FDR's whistle-stop visit to Olathe was arranged by a former Kansas governor; George H. Hodges, a resident of the town and a fellow Democrat. Johnson County residents, particularly farmers, were anxious to see and hear FDR and had great hopes for the "New Deal" programs designed to restore the nation's economy after the ravages of the Great Depression. The President emerged from the train with his sons at his side, who discreetly helped him stand. The audience was not yet aware of the President's crippling disability caused by polio., What is a whistle-stop? Prior to television, political campaigns relied on newspaper coverage and public appearances across the country. Candidates traveled by train to address voters in communities of all sizes., "I'm glad to come here, but I wish that I could spend a little more time than I am allowed on this trip. I am glad to come to this home town of former Governor Hodges. I have been tremendously interested in coming through Kansas today to see with my own eyes a lot of things I have been reading in reports back in Washington... I think you all realize that what we have been trying to do for agriculture in the past three years has been aimed at greater security for the men, women and children on the farms... One of the important factors in trying to work out a Government program in these past four years has been the fact that we tried to give the communities every assistance based on what they themselves decided were their needs... That has been the basis of what we have been trying to do, and I think that in another four years we shall be able to carry the country a good many steps farther toward a greater security and prosperity. Good-bye and good luck." , President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Olathe, Kansas; October 13th. 1936.