Supporters of presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter cheer at his campaign headquarters in the Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on March 16, 1976, when it was clear he was victorious in the Illinois Democratic primary. Gov. George Wallace of Alabama was second. (Val Mazzenga/Chicago Tribune)
Vintage photos: Jimmy Carter’s visits to the Chicago area
Former President Jimmy Carter’s ties to the Chicago area ran deep. He visited multiple times during his campaigning years, usually staying in the homes of local politicians or supporters from Chicago to Addison to Elmhurst, gathering crowds where ever he went. In the early 1980s, he was a frequent visitor at his grandchildren’s school in Evanston, shaking hands with crossing guards and talking to second-grade classrooms. In 1986, he and his wife, Rosalynn, highlighted a blighted West Side area by staying in the historic but rundown Guyon Hotel while building homes with Habitat for Humanity.
Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter waves as he arrives Sunday afternoon at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 4130 S. Indiana Ave., to campaign in Rep. Ralph Metcalfe’s district in 1976. (Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune)Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter is mobbed by well-wishers as he started a one-day tour of Illinois at the O’Hare Hilton on Feb. 6, 1976. (Quentin C. Dodt/Chicago Tribune)
Presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter visits with students at University of Illinois’ Circle Campus while campaigning for the Illinois presidential primary on March 11, 1976. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)Presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter visits a lunch counter on Morse Avenue on March 11, 1976, in Chicago while campaigning for the Illinois presidential primary. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)As Jimmy Carter greets nuns in front of Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church, Mayor Daley stays in the background, upper right, on Oct. 11 1976. The Democratic presidential candidate attended mass at the church and later marched in the Columbus Day parade on State Street. (Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune)
Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, left, is applauded by Mayor Daley, Michael Howlett and Gov. Walker at a rally held at the Medinah Temple after a torchlight parade on Sept. 9, 1976. (Val Mazzenga/Chicago Tribune)Presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter addresses more than a thousand students at the University of Illinois' Circle Campus while campaigning for the Illinois presidential primary on March 11, 1976. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn and their daughter Amy, march at the head of the Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 11, 1976, on State Street in Chicago. Marching with them are Mayor Daley, Gov. Walker and County Board President George Dunne. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune)
Jimmy Carter flanked by Rabbi Neil Brief, left, and Rep. Abner Mikva, right, joins in applause during a rally at a synagogue in Skokie on Oct. 26, 1976. (James Mayo/Chicago Tribune)President Jimmy Carter acknowledges the cheers of fellow Democrats during a rally at the Niles East High School gymnasium in November 1978. Flanking him is U.S. Rep. Abner Mikva, left, and Sen. Adlai Stevenson, right. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)As President Jimmy Carter arrived at the Conrad Hilton Hotel, the faces of those who greeted him from across the street formed a typical Chicago tableau on May 25, 1978. Carter’s visit to Chicago included a speech at a Democratic fundraiser at the Conrad Hilton. (Don Casper/Chicago Tribune)
President Jimmy Carter leaves Mayor Bilandic's Bridgeport home on Nov. 3, 1978, in Chicago. (Gerald West/Chicago Tribune)The heat in the Niles East High School gym was too much for President Jimmy Carter at a rally in Skokie on Nov. 2, 1978. Carter doffed his jacket and Sen. Adlai Stevenson, right, followed suit. Good Democrats all, everyone on the podium suddenly began to shed their coats in unison. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)The people of Mayor Bilandic’s Bridgeport neighborhood waited to cheer President Jimmy Carter when he arrived at the Bilandic home on Nov. 2, 1978. (Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune)
Young people representing ethnic communities in Chicago greet President Jimmy Carter at O’Hare International Airport after Mayor Jane Byrne welcomed him to the city on Oct. 15, 1979. (Ernie Cox Jr./Chicago Tribune)Picketers supporting the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) gather outside the Conrad Hilton where President Jimmy Carter was speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago on May 25, 1978. (Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune)President Jimmy Carter at Mayor Jane Byrne's residence at 111 E. Chestnut St. for breakfast prior to a trip to a high school on Oct. 16, 1979, in Chicago. (George Quinn/Chicago Tribune)
An eager crowd surges toward President Jimmy Carter on Oct. 16, 1979, as he arrives at Thornridge High School in Dolton. (John Irvine/Chicago Tribune)President Jimmy Carter speaks at a town hall on Oct. 16, 1979, at Thornridge High School in Dolton. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)President Jimmy Carter waves to a crowd of 2,200 at a town hall on Oct. 16, 1979, in the gym of Thornridge High School in Dolton. (Sally Good/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Jane Byrne and President Jimmy Carter wave to crowds at a Daley Center rally during the President’s campaign stop on Oct. 6, 1980. (Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune)President Jimmy Carter leaves the home of supporter Hubert J. Loftus at 256 Friars Court in Addison on Oct. 6, 1980. Carter was running for reelection at the time. (Ron Bailey/Chicago Tribune)Chicago becomes President Jimmy Carter’s kind of town as signs welcoming him go up downtown on Oct. 6, 1980, before his arrival Monday afternoon. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)
Jimmy Carter in the Chicago area on Nov. 9, 1982. (Sally Good/Chicago Tribune)Former president Jimmy Carter shakes hands with students at Evanston’s Lincoln School where he stopped on Oct. 5, 1982, to visit his 7-year-old grandson, Jason, who is in second grade at the school. (Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune)Former President Jimmy Carter visits with his grandson Jason, 7, in his second grade classroom at Lincoln School in Evanston on Oct. 5, 1982. Jason’s teacher is Pat Doyle. (Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune)
With granddaughter Sarah, 6, in tow and surrounded by Secret Service members, former President Jimmy Carter greets a Lincoln School crossing guard in Evanston on April 25, 1985. Carter, who was visiting his son, Jack, and family in the suburb, stopped in at the school and addressed Sarah’s classmates. (Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)Mayor Harold Washington joins former President Jimmy Carter and others involved in the Habitat for Humanity project for a press conference on April 18, 1986, in Chicago. The Carters announced they will help build affordable housing for poor people in Chicago. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune)Working side-by-side, former presidential couple Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter work on a Habitat for Humanity home in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago in July 1986. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Jessica Wallace, a Habitat for Humanity participant from New York who learned carpentry in the project, gets a reunion hug from former President Jimmy Carter at a Chicago site on July 6, 1986. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn watch as workers carry a couch into an apartment that they helped build for Habitat for Humanity at Kildare and Maypole in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago on July 11, 1986. (José Moré/Chicago Tribune)Jimmy Carter sits in the bedroom he’s staying in with his wife Rosalynn at the Guyon Hotel on Chicago’s West Side on July 9, 1986. The bedroom afforded a surprisingly good view of the city skyline. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
Escorted by secret service agents, Jimmy Carter greets neighbors as he exits the Guyon Hotel on his way to a White Sox game on July 8, 1986, in Chicago. Carter and his wife were staying at the hotel while in town for a Habitat for Humanity project. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter relax in the living room of their sparse quarters at the Guyon Hotel at 4000 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago on July 9, 1986. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)Former President Jimmy Carter works to build a home for Habitat for Humanity in Chicago in July 1986. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Former President Jimmy Carter works for Habitat for Humanity during a trip to Chicago in 1986. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
