Monumental Moments

Although Presidents Day began as a tradition honoring George Washington’s birthday (February 22), the holiday has since evolved (as most holidays seem to) into a shopping frenzy focused on trucks, mattresses and appliances at “monumental savings.” In Marin, we’ve had our share of more substantial presidential events. In 1901, President William McKinley took a boat from San Francisco to Sausalito to spend a day with Marinites. Thirty-seven years later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stopped by the Mare Island Navy Yard and at Black Point in Marin, where crowds gathered for a sight of the leader. Barack Obama visited twice, first as a U.S. senator in 2006, when he spoke at the Marin Civic Center promoting his new book, and again in 2008 for a fundraising reception just a few months before he was elected president. But perhaps the most memorable moment of all was in 2002, when President George H. W. Bush controversially referred to “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh as “some misguided Marin County hot-tubber.”