Not every presidential visit to the theatre is as famous as Lincoln’s last night at Ford’s, but American presidents attended the theatre long before and long after that ill-fated night. As a young man in 1751, George Washington saw his first play, The London Merchant, during a visit to Barbados. John Quincy Adams understood theatre well enough to publish dramatic critiques. William McKinley, on the other hand, avoided theatrical performances while in office, on professional as well as moral grounds. Dwight Eisenhower used drama as a vehicle for political propaganda. Richard Nixon took a more personal view of theatre, having met his wife at a community theatre audition.
Surveying 255 years, this volume examines presidential theatre-going as it reflects shifting popular tastes in America. To this end, it provides a chronology of theatre attendance throughout the lives of all 43 American presidents. Defining theatre as a live dramatic performance (including opera but excluding ballet), the book details the attendance habits and theatrical tastes of each chief executive as well as the ways in which his choices reflected the mores and tastes of his contemporary American public. An afterword provides a summary of presidential theatre-going preferences.
