With Sen. John Kennedy’s (1917-1963) historic campaign stop at College Stadium on September 17, 1960 – the first ever by a presidential candidate on campus – East Carolina attained unprecedented national prominence as a political venue. A decade later, Sen. George McGovern stopped briefly at ECU in 1971 during his run against Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994). But that lackluster visit made little difference: Nixon won the 1972 election by the largest landslide in U.S. history. A long dry spell followed: Gerald Ford (1913-2006), Jimmy Carter (1924- ), Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), George H. W. Bush (1924-2018), and Bill Clinton (1946- ) all bypassed ECU. Things changed in April 2001 when the newly elected president, George W. Bush, spoke in Minges Coliseum promoting increased spending on education and a trillion-dollar tax cut. Bush’s visit was historic on two additional counts: he was the first sitting president ever to come to ECU, and the first to visit Greenville since George Washington passed through over two centuries before.
Bush’s stop was part of his first visit to the state following his election in 2000 over the Democratic candidate, vice president Al Gore, by a razor-thin margin in the Electoral College (despite having 500,000 fewer popular votes). However, Bush easily carried North Carolina with a 400,000 vote margin, 13% of the state’s total. Understanding the political calculus of the election, Sen. Jesse Helms and Rep. Walter B. Jones, Jr., both Republicans and longstanding supporters of ECU, officially invited Bush to visit the state. And they accompanied Bush during his rally in Minges, making that occasion all more historic for its concentration of political figures. Commenting on Bush’s appearance, Rep. Jones remarked, “It’s very positive, no doubt about it.” Jones added “Anytime that you have the president coming in, you’ve got not only the media but all these different people that follow the president and they get a chance to see Pitt County, East Carolina, Greenville and other parts of North Carolina.”
Jones was not exaggerating more than 60 media representatives traveled with Bush as part of the White House press corps, turning Minges’ southeast lobby into a press room transmitting events of the day, with an ECU dateline. While proud of the honor as a presidential venue, ECU officials emphasized that the president’s visit was “a White House event – not an ECU activity – so classes will not be canceled, and state employees will have to take personal leave to attend.” Nevertheless, ECU did take the opportunity to provide Bush, former majority owner of the Texas Rangers, a professional baseball team, with a brief tour of the ECU Sports Medicine Facility adjacent to Minges. And at the rally ECU Chancellor Richard Eakin, then in his final months at ECU, introduced Bush after presenting him with a ECU baseball team jersey and hat.
Education was a central theme of the day. Before the rally in Minges, Bush stopped at Concord Middle School near Charlotte for an address on educational responsibility before an assembly of 500 students and teachers. The day before, his father, former president George H. W. Bush, had received an honorary doctorate at Elon College during its spring convocation. At ECU, however, promoting education amounted to preaching to the choir. Instead, it was Bush’s advocacy of a $1.6 trillion tax cut that brought “thunderous applause” from the packed house, reportedly numbering around 9,000. Thousands more listened outside as speakers broadcast the Minges rally in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The proposed tax cuts were based on what soon seemed like naively optimistic predictions of a $5.6 trillion surplus in the decade ahead.
While Bush’s proposals were passed, the 9/11 terrorist attack five months later resulted in a profoundly different economic future for the country. Even in April, Democratic critics criticized the proposed tax cuts for making the rich richer, while others protesting Bush’s appearance attacked his positions on the environment and the death penalty. One ECU faculty member, Gay Wilentz, an associate professor of English, related that “about half of her students” wanted to be excused from class to attend the Bush rally, and half wanted to be excused to protest. Resolving the matter, Wilentz “dismissed the class to encourage students to express themselves.”
Apart from education and taxes, Bush brought historic news to his audience and the nation by reporting that the 24 crew members of the U. S. Navy spy plane earlier downed near China and detained by the Chinese for 11 days in uncertain captivity had been released and were en route to the U.S. and their families for Easter. Triumphant in securing their release, Bush remarked before his Minges audience “These have been difficult days for all families, and they are a reminder of the sacrifices all our men and women in uniform and their families make every day for our freedom…. We appreciate them, we are proud of them, and we can’t wait to welcome them home.” Shortly after Bush’s opening statement reporting the crew’s release, he was drowned out by the crowd’s emotional chant, “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A,” echoing throughout the coliseum.
Insofar Bush’s appearance coincided with this news, received the morning of the Minges rally, his visit occasioned for ECU an important role as presidential venue in a moment bringing relief, unity, and celebration to the nation. Five months later with the 9/11 attacks, the triumphant glow diminished in the emerging nightmare of national mobilization in preparation for future possible acts of terrorism. Nevertheless, with Bush’s visit, ECU’s Minges Coliseum, equipped with fiber optic cable, capacity seating for 8,000, and acres of parking, emerged as a preferred and already historic venue in eastern North Carolina for presidents and, soon enough, presidential candidates and their running mates.
Sources
- Allegood, Jerry. “Bush visit this week stirs bipartisan interest.” News and Observer. April 10, 2001. P. 3A.
- Allegood, Jerry. “President draws applause, protests.” News and Observer. April 12, 2001. P. 14A.
- Christensen, Rob and Irwin Speizer. “Bush pushes tax cuts in N.C. President stumps for education boost in Concord, Greenville.” News and Observer. April 12, 2001. P. 1.
- ECU News Services. “Bush visits ECU.” April 12, 2001. https://news.ecu.edu/2001/04/12/bush-visits-ecu/
- “Elder Bush at Elon: Hoping for New Sense of Pride.” News and Observer. April 11, 2001. P. 3A.
- “George Bush visits ECU-2001.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpHaYnJljjE.
- “George McGovern and Leo Jenkins.” November 18, 1971. University Archives # PA848. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1505
- “McGovern to appear at ECU.” The Fountainhead. November 11, 1971. P. 1. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39590
- “Navy crew back on U.S. soil.” News and Observer. April 12, 2001. P. 1.
- Pan, Phillip and John Pomfret. “Homeward bound: China’s release of plane crew punctuates Bush’s N.C. visit.” Charlotte Observer. April 12, 2001. P. 1.
- Whitmire, Tim, Jim Morrill and Mark Johnson. “Homeward bound: Bush praises N.C. education, stresses value of accountability. Charlotte Observer. April 12, 2001. P. 1.
Citation Information
Title: ECU’s First Presidential Visit, 2001
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 8/13/2020