Bother President Roosevelts Visit Mechanicville – by P. Loatman

The recent PBS series on the Roosevelt family that produced two New York Governors who later became President reminds us that both TR and FDR visited Mechanicville during their public lives. Fresh from his triumphs in Cuba, Teddy Roosevelt, despite being widely acclaimed while campaigning for Governor, left Editor Farrington Mead of The Saturday Mercury clearly unimpressed when he visited Mechanicville in 1898. An outspoken Democrat, Mead dismissed TR’s appeal to local voters by editorializing on October 22: “The Rough Rider left a poor impression in Mechanicville. The consuming vanity of the man drives away support.” Mead’s lack of enthusiasm, however, did little to stop TR from being swept into office by a political landslide.

Read the entire article in the Oct. 2nd issue of the Express.