Carter and family: Twain tourists for a day in 1979

Previewing President Jimmy Carter’s tour of the Mark Twain Historic area, museum curator Henry Sweets plans the visit with Nancy Greene of the White House staff. Other staffers and Secret Service agents, left, go over the logistics. Photo by Mark Prout, published in the Aug. 22, 1979 edition of the Hannibal Courier-Post.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

On Aug. 23, 1979, Henry Sweets, then just 30, was charged with the daunting task of conducting a personal tour of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum for the President of the United States.

In his relatively new role as the museum’s curator, Sweets was to meet President Jimmy Carter and his party at the Tom and Huck Statue, Main and North streets, following the expected 9 a.m. docking of the Delta Queen - with the president aboard - on Hannibal’s riverfront.

But overnight fog on the river north of Hannibal caused a delay.

“The schedule had them landing at 9 a.m., but they had to tie up overnight due to fog, and were running late,” Sweets said during an interview in the spring of 2024. Instead of waiting at the statue, “I had press clearance, so I walked down to the riverfront. At 9 a.m. you couldn’t even see the Delta Queen. The lady coordinating the event was really worried about keeping the time table, but there was no time table to keep at that time.”

Perhaps a half hour later, the boat did dock, and the President and First Lady got off. There was a ceremony with dignitaries on the riverfront.

“Rosalynn and the President were shaking hands with people in line. It was a slow procession,”  to the Tom and Huck Statue, Sweets said.

“The Secret Service and police had put barrels down the middle of street. You could stand on one side of the barrels, from the river to Hill Street to Main.  They had a car that was driving slowly as the President was walking. They could just pop him into a car,” if necessary, “and he’d be safer.”

The handshaking procession passed the old Ice House Theatre on Hill Street, then turned the corner north toward the statue, which is perched at the base of Cardiff Hill.

As the president neared, a band from Quincy Notre Dame High School, which was set up on the parking lot of an old gas station next to the statue, started to play. People in the crowd were cheering.

“It was a festive day,” Sweets said. Then, it was time for him to talk to the president about the statue.

Sweets was introduced to President and Mrs. Carter and “we talked for just a moment. I turned to face the statue. I raised my hand to point at the statue, and the band stopped playing.” The crowed went silent. “I was talking to the president about the statue, and it was dead quiet.”

 At the time, there was a flight of stairs that went to a walkway around the Tom and Huck statue. “They told me to stay on the ground. (By climbing the steps) we would be an elevated target,” Sweets said. 

“But the president said,  ‘let’s go see the statue.’ I went with them, climbed the stairs to the statue. Carter put his arm around (daughter) Amy’s shoulder, and a photographer took a picture. Everyone was still quiet. After they looked at the statue, (Carter and his family) turned around and started waving at the crowd. People start cheering and the band starts playing.”

Sweets, feeling awkward with the eyes of the world watching, thought to himself: “Do I start waving, too, or (stand still and) look like a Secret Service agent?”

He opted for the latter.

“We came back down from the statue, and, (the President) started to shake hands with people on Cassano’s parking lot (415 N. Main). It was August and a hot day. I went up to the museum and got them to get glasses of water ready.” Back with the presidential party, “We went through the garden gate. The whole mall and museum area were barricaded off. We went in through the garden, up the steps, into the Boyhood Home and Museum. 

“We found out that as they were floating down the Mississippi aboard the Delta Queen, the Carters were reading ‘Tom Sawyer’ so they were familiar with the story. When we got into the boyhood home, I started describing the rooms, and they were all very familiar with that.

“One of the local people had set up by the Mark Twain Dinette with a big telephoto lens,” Sweets said. “He was waiting for the president to come out of the museum, and wanted to (photograph) him looking up the hill at the crowd. Just as (the photographer) hit ‘click’, I stepped into the photo.”

Pool photographers were allowed into to the mall area, where they took a series of pictures of the family by the fence.

“We went to the foot of the mall, where we had planter boxes, and (the Carters)  sat on the edges of the planter boxes. The cast of the Mark Twain Outdoor Theater “presented a short skit for the president.” Then, on a small platform in front of Pilaster House, the president “gave a short talk about power generation on the river.

“One of the Hannibal seamstresses made a Becky dress for Amy, and (Mayor Lillian Herman) presented it to her.” The entourage “loaded into a couple of limousines, and went to the Mark Twain Cave. That was the tour part of our museum properties that I was a part of.”

Sweets describes the activities of the press on that eventful day.

“They were passing out press passes like water; lots and lots of press were in Hannibal that day. One photographer from the Post Dispatch came up on a helicopter. (It seemed like)  the President had barely left the museum, when we got call from the newspaper. ‘We have a picture of the president and his family by the fence, and several people are standing by them. Who are they?’  They described the setup of the picture, and we were able to identify the people. 

“We made the front page of the next edition of the Post Dispatch,” Sweets remembers.

“It’s interesting how photography has changed so much,” he added. In 1979, photographers shot their photos with film, which required time consuming developing and printing.

Preparations

“About 10 days before the Delta Queen was to dock in Hannibal,” Sweets said, “we knew President Carter was coming on it and special things were going to happen. I worked with the Secret Service and the White House staff in order to allow the family to tour the museum properties.

“The night before, we were down there well past midnight. I went home and had to be back down at 5 a.m., so that they could walk bomb-sniffing dogs through all our buildings.”

Mary Lou Montgomery retired on New Year’s Eve, 2014, after a 39 year career with the Hannibal Courier-Post.

An official car awaits nearby and Secret Service agents are on the lookout, while cast members from the Clemens Outdoor Amphitheater present a sketch for President Jimmy Carter and family on the Mark Twain Museum mall. President Carter visited Hannibal on Aug. 23, 1979. Photo by Mary Lou Montgomery of the Courier-Post staff.

Rosalynn Carter, flanked by her husband, President Jimmy Carter, signs the guest book at the Mark Twain Museum on Thursday, Aug. 23, 1979. Accompanied by their daughter, Amy, the Carters were passengers aboard the Delta Queen when it docked in Hannibal. Photo courtesy of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.

While many photo passes were given out to reporters for President Carter’s visit to Hannibal on Aug. 23, 1979, access for local photographers was severely restricted. From a distance, you can see the crowds and security personnel gathered for the Carter visit. At right you can see the Carter family posing in front of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. Photo by Mary Lou Montgomery of the Courier-Post staff.