President Joe Biden official portrait. (Photo via WhiteHouse.gov)

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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• Below: A breakdown of past presidential visits to the Rockford area since 1960

BELVIDERE — President Joe Biden’s planned stop in Belvidere on Thursday will mark the first time in nearly four decades that a sitting U.S. president has visited the Rockford region.

Past and future presidents have stopped in the Rock River Valley on numerous occasions, but a sitting president hasn’t been here since Ronald Reagan visited Dixon in 1984 as president for his 73rd birthday. His plane landed at the Rockford airport before he was taxied by helicopter to Dixon, according to Rockford Register Star archives.

“It’s rare and it’s important,” Democratic Congressman Bill Foster, who represents Belvidere as part of Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, said of Biden’s visit here. “So much of (President Biden’s) persona is his dedication to good union jobs and cities that need those jobs.”

Biden is coming here Thursday to meet with Gov. JB Pritzker and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain to tout union workers’ deal with Stellantis to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant and build a new electric vehicle battery plant.

Biden will be the fifth sitting U.S. president to visit the Rockford area since 1960.

“I remember my mom taking me out of school to watch Air Force One land at the Greater Rockford Airport when I was a kid,” Congressman Eric Sorensen said in message responding to the Rock River Current. “And now, how exciting that the president, governor and UAW president are taking note of the workforce potential of the Rockford region.”

Stellantis has committed to investing about $5 billion to retool the assembly plant for production of a midsize pickup truck, as well as build an electric vehicle battery plant on adjacent farmland and a parts distribution center.

Foster said he and Sorensen have stressed to Biden the importance of the Belvidere Assembly Plant, which “has been the beating heart of Belvidere for generations.” State and federal subsidies, including a $400 million “closing fund” to incentivize opening an EV plant here, helped seal the deal with Stellantis.

“Now that the federal incentives, along with the state incentives, have been such an important part in getting Stellantis to do the right thing it really makes us feel proud to be part of the team that’s delivered this for Belvidere,” Foster said.

Presidential visits since 1960

Here’s a look back at times U.S. presidents visited the Rockford region since 1960, according to newspaper archives, The American Presidency Project and information from Midway Village Museum.

President Donald Trump didn’t have any Rockford stops during his four years in office, but he did visit Janesville in 2016 as a first-time candidate and again in October 2020 when campaigning for re-election.

President Barack Obama was in Rockford as a U.S. senator three years before winning his first term as president in 2008. He spoke in May 2005 to students who won the Register Star’s Young Americans Award during an event at Cliffbreakers.

Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton never visited Rockford.

President George H.W. Bush visited Rockford numerous times between 1978 and 1988 as CIA director, vice president and a presidential candidate but never as a sitting president. In March 1988, when he was vice president, he marched through snow in Rockford’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

President Ronald Reagan came to Rockford multiple times as an actor, as California’s governor and as a candidate for president. His stop in Dixon in 1984 was his only visit as president.

President Jimmy Carter came to Rockford twice in 1976 to campaign before he was elected the country’s 39th president. He spoke in February and March of that year, including speaking at the former United Auto Workers hall.

President Gerald Ford visited in Rockford as president on March 11, 1976, speaking at a gathering at the CherryVale Mall.

President Richard Nixon stopped in Rockford as a vice president in 1952, 1956 and 1960, according to newspaper archives. He was also here as a supporter of Illinois Republicans and Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1964. He came here once as president in 1970 at the Rockford airport.

President Lyndon B. Johnson was here as president to campaign for a full term in office. He held a rally at the Rockford airport on Oct. 30, 1964, just days before he was elected.

President John F. Kennedy spoke at the Coronado Performing Arts Center in October 1960 as he was campaigning for president, according to The American Presidency Project.

Since 1960, only Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon visited the Rockford area as sitting presidents. Several others were here before or after their time as president. (Images via WhiteHouse.gov)

Other notable visits

President Herbert Hoover was here on Nov. 5, 1932, in what was described as the largest political gathering in Rockford history with 50,000 people gathered at a local train depot to hear Hoover campaign for reelection. According to the Rockford Morning Star, Hoover claimed that the worst of the Great Depression had passed, and that claim was met with silence.

President Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Rockford five times from 1900 through 1917, according to newspaper archives. He was here as sitting president on June 3, 1903, to help dedicate Rockford’s Memorial Hall.

President Ulysses S. Grant was here in 1880 after he had served as president, according to newspaper clippings at the Rockford Public Library’s local history room. Grant spoke on Sept. 16, 1880, in what is now Fairgrounds Park.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas