The Bronx: A presidential stomping ground and battle site

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The Bronx has been the scene of political battles for a few centuries – conflicts no less intense than the one between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. 

The stories behind past and present maneuvers, clashes and junkets are now on display at the Museum of Bronx History, as part of the exhibition “The American Presidency: Politics and the Bronx.”

The exhibition, which opened in October and will run through April, gives visitors an overview of how the Bronx has served as a home and stomping ground for past presidents and presidential candidates. The borough’s involvement in presidential politics dates as far back as the Revolutionary War, when George Washington briefly used the Van Cortlandt Mansion – now the oldest surviving building in the Bronx – as his military headquarters. 

“[The Bronx] is a microcosm for the nation’s history,” said Angel Hernandez, the director of programs and external affairs for the Museum of Bronx History. “Everything that happened here in the Bronx is what happened through the nation.”

Highlights of the exhibition include mementos from past presidential campaigns and facts about former presidents that are not widely known. For instance, Woodrow Wilson used a friend’s Riverdale residence to receive telegrams from Germany during World War I and Theodore Roosevelt’s family rented Wave Hill in the summers of 1870 and 1871.

Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump have one thing in common with Washington, Wilson or John Adams: The current candidates have also visited the Bronx. 

In order to keep up with current affairs, the Museum also highlights the opening of Mr. Trump’s golf course in Throgs Neck and Ms. Clinton’s visit to the borough back in April.

Although the exhibition runs until April 3, five months after the presidential election, Mr. Hernandez said he hopes that student groups and other visitors leave with a well-rounded education on how politics and the Bronx have intertwined. 

“When we talk about the presidential elections, we talk about both sides,” he said. “We’re historians, we don’t really take sides. We talk about the winners and the losers.”  

When it comes to how the next president will interact with the Bronx and implement changes to the borough, Mr. Hernandez said he was not sure what will happen after Nov. 8. 

“Us Bronxites, we pretty much do a lot on our own,” he said. “For me, personally, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you stand behind your word and what you propose to people.”

Tiffany Moustakas, Museum of Bronx History, John F. Kennedy, The Bronx, Woodrow Wilson, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Theodore Roosevelt

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