Carter's visit a rare trip to the capital

When former President Jimmy Carter arrives in the capital city Monday, it will be the first time a sitting or former president has attended an event in Carson City in more than 70 years.

The former president, and several other members of the family, will appear at events in both Las Vegas and Carson City to announce his son Jack Carter's challenge of John Ensign, the Republican incumbent seeking a second term in the Senate.

Presidents and former presidents have appeared at numerous events in Reno, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas over the years. Richard Nixon campaigned in Reno as did Lyndon Johnson during the 1960s.

Most recently, President George W. Bush made several appearances in Northern Nevada in 2000 and 2004 - at Lake Tahoe and Reno. Before that, President Bill Clinton attended the Lake Tahoe environmental forum in 1997.

State Archivist Guy Rocha said the most recent visit by a sitting or former president to Carson City was in April 1932 when Herbert Hoover toured the area en route to his home in California, after losing to Franklin Roosevelt.

Carter said he expects his father will return more than once during the campaign to help his cause.

"Barring something major happening, he's going to be here," Carter said.

The Carson City event is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday in front of the Nevada Legislature.

Rocha said Reno and Las Vegas can expect more and more such visits in the future because those two areas hold the vast majority of the state's population. Carson City and the rest of the state, he said, simply don't have enough people to draw presidential visits on a regular basis.

The first presidential visit to Carson City was by former President Ulysses S. Grant in 1879. He made the stop on the final leg of a world tour with his wife and son, staying overnight at the mansion of Gov. John Kinkead. Grant was honored at the Capitol and made a short speech before some 3,000 people before leaving by train for Virginia City.

He was followed a year later by President Rutherford B. Hayes. After a day of parades, mine tours and speeches in Reno and Virginia City, Hayes traveled to Carson City for a reception hosted by Governor Kinkead.

He was followed, in 1903, by President Teddy Roosevelt.

Rocha said there have been several visits to the area by men who later became president. John F. Kennedy spoke before a joint session of the Nevada Legislature on Feb. 1, 1960, when he was a Massachusetts senator planning a run for president. And Nixon visited the Comstock for it's centennial celebration in 1959 while vice president.

There are also anecdotal stories that Ronald Reagan visited, and may have spent a night at the Governor's Mansion visiting his friend Paul Laxalt when the two were governors of their respective states in the late 1960s.

But Rocha said his research has found no solid evidence to support the stories about Kennedy secretly visiting North Lake Tahoe after his election for trysts with Marilyn Monroe.

Carter said he has been on a tour of the state, listening to people to find out their concerns. Thus far he has not been specific about the issues he intends to raise, focusing more on getting Democrats working together to elect a slate of candidates.

Carter, 58, moved to Las Vegas about three years ago. He and his wife, Elizabeth, own an investment business.

-- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.