Roosevelt in Roanoke

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The story below is from our September/October 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

President Roosevelt’s visit offered one of the most exciting events in our local history.

The special six-car Norfolk & Western Railway train pulled out of Washington Union Station on the morning of October 19, 1934, carrying President Franklin Roosevelt to Roanoke. Roosevelt spent most of the trip seated in the observation lounge of the “Robert Peary,” the President’s private car. The large, wide windows afforded Roosevelt a spectacular view of the countryside. He was coming to dedicate the Veterans Administration Hospital.

With all other rail traffic halted along the presidential route, the train’s only stops before Roanoke were at Wayburn to receive water, Monroe so the train could be coupled to N&W engines Nos. 502 and 504 and at Lynchburg. Along the way, the train did slow as it moved through Manassas, Calverton, Orange, Charlottesville and Sweet Briar Station. Perfect weather produced large, waving crowds catching a glimpse of the President who cheerfully responded in kind through the lounge car’s glass encasement.

At Lynchburg, Virginia Governor George Peery, US Senator Harry F. Byrd and Sixth District Congressman Clifton Woodrum boarded to join others in the President’s entourage that included Senator Carter Glass, Admiral Cary Grayson and the Postmaster General.

The President’s train arrived in Roanoke at 3:30 p.m. Roosevelt departed from the N&W passenger station in his White House automobile, a Packard phaeton. Sitting in the back seat, behind the President, were Governor Peery and Congressman Woodrum. The motorcade proceeded south on Jefferson Street to Campbell Avenue, then west on Campbell to Thirteenth Street where it paused so Congressman Woodrum’s mother could personally greet the President from her home. From there, the motorcade moved south on Memorial Avenue to Grandin Road and eventually to Lee Highway. At Salem, the President’s car moved north on College Avenue to the Boulevard and then to Main Street before heading out to the Veterans Administration Hospital.

Crowds cheered and waved American flags from curbs, corners and countryside. In front of the Roanoke Municipal Building, school children stood in a reserved section with tiny flags and the Bedford Firemen Band played patriotic selections. Strategically positioned along the route were school bands, banners, and personal displays of affection for the Commander in Chief. State patrolmen, local police, National Guard and Boy Scouts were deployed to keep the crowds in check.

Upon entering the hospital grounds, a 21-gun presidential salute notified the throng gathered of Roosevelt’s arrival, and the 116th Infantry Band, amassed in front of the speaker’s stand, played “Hail to the Chief.” The crowd was estimated at 40,000, which was and remains the highest-attended single event in Roanoke Valley history. The Secret Service added to that figure by including all those that lined the motorcade route, and their number was 85,000.

Roosevelt began his speech at 4:45, just as the sun was beginning to set. Deviating from his prepared text, the President acknowledged with gratitude the greeting he had received in Roanoke and along the motor route to the hospital, the cadets from Virginia Tech and VMI, and the natural beauty of Southwestern Virginia – all punctuated by applause.

Behind the specially-created platform upon which Roosevelt spoke loomed the main building of the Veterans Administration Hospital, the centerpiece of a 427-bed, $1.75 million complex. Roosevelt used the occasion to not only commit his administration to the care of veterans, but to healthcare for all Americans who could not afford such due to the Depression. Again going off script, Roosevelt declared his commitment to “hundreds of thousands of other citizens – men, women and children who, handicapped by environment or by circumstance, are lacking today in what reasonable people call the essentials of modern civilization that requires our immediate exertions…In this thought also our veterans of our wars will go along.”

Roosevelt had been lobbying for federal healthcare assistance for the poor and met resistance in Congress. He continued, “And that is why I know they will go along with my thought of caring first for the masses of our people who are crying for care.” The off-the-cuff comments were picked up by national media as being Roosevelt’s strongest public statements to date on his efforts in that regard.

The veterans’ hospital was one of 78 throughout the country, but it was the first to be dedicated during Roosevelt’s administration. Created primarily to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, the hospital was to initially serve a 150-mile radius. Roosevelt articulated the vision for the hospital campus which was to include sixteen buildings. “You see before you today a monument which is representative of the national policy of your government that its disabled and sick veterans shall be accorded the best treatment which medical and surgical science can supply.”

The President’s speech was brief and folded within the principles of his New Deal optimism of equitable prosperity undergirded by federal assistance. Following his address Roosevelt moved to his motorcade where another 21-gun salute sounded as the automobiles moved quickly to the N&W passenger depot at Salem. From there, the Presidential train went to Williamsburg where Roosevelt received an honorary degree the following day from the College of William and Mary during ceremonies inaugurating its new president, John Bryan.

The Roanoke Times described Roosevelt’s visit as having “exceeded in magnitude and color anything that Roanoke had witnessed…in its history.”

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt joined the President at Williamsburg. Unlike her husband who traveled with a large escort aboard a presidential passenger train, she drove the 160 miles from DC to Williamsburg alone.

The story above is from our September/October 2022 issue. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!