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November Speaker Examines Ohio’s Legacy of Presidential Leadership

On the heels of the 2024 presidential election, Hudson Heritage Association’s November 14 meeting will feature Dr. Kevin Kern, associate professor of history at the University of Akron, who will look back at the individuals from Ohio who held the highest office in the land following the Civil War and during the decades leading to the Great Depression. The program, which begins at 7 p.m., will be held at Barlow Community Center.

A drawing of the moment when James A. Garfield was fatally wounded by an assassin
A drawing of the moment when James A. Garfield was fatally wounded by an assassin at the Baltimore and Potomac train station in Washington D.C. Elected as the 20th president of the United States, Garfield was born in a log cabin in Moreland Hills, served as the president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College), rose to the rank of major general during the Civil War and served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. The James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor served as the family home and the site of the first “front porch campaign” for president. Illustration courtesy of Kevin Kern.

Beginning with Ulysses S. Grant in 1869 and ending with Warren G. Harding in 1921, the nation’s voters sent seven Ohioans to the White House during a 54-year period – a record rivaled only by Virginia, which claims the country’s first four presidents, along with four more ending with Woodrow Wilson. Dr. Kern’s talk, entitled “Ohio Leads the Nation: the Ohio Dynasty of Presidents, 1868-1923,” will explore the reasons for the state’s unprecedented dominance on the national political scene during a time of westward expansion, industrialization and emergence on the world stage. 

Dr. Kern is the co-author of Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State, now in its second edition. He specializes in Ohio history, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century U.S. history, and the history of science and technology. He has appeared in shows on The History Channel, C-SPAN, and PBS; and is currently working on State of the Game: Ohio and the Development of a Football Culture, a book about the early history of football in Ohio.

The November 14 program is free and open to the public.  Attendees should note 7 p.m. is a new, earlier start time for HHA programs. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.

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