I believe Jimmy Carter is the only person to have been President of the United States and to have visited a campus of Samford University twice. He did not visit Samford while in office, but he did before he became president and again after he had completed his term.

The first occassion was in September 1975, while he was governor of Georgia. Then he spoke in Reid Chapel from the Laura Weatherall Robinson pulpit.

The second occassion was in 1984 when he particiapted in the Samford’s Cumberland School of Law’s Cordell Hull Speakers Forum. This forum took place in the Wright Center Concert Hall. The Samford University Library’s digital collection includes three photographs of this event. (Click on them to expand.)

Bill Clinton visited Samford in 1979 for the Law Day banquet. You can listen to his remarks here. Judging from the image below, he was speaking in the Caf, which was used for banquets back then. (It is hard to imagine that happening after the lastest renovation.)

Ronald Reagan visited Samford while campaigning for president in 1980. (Image embeded from .)

George H. W. Bush spoke at the same 1984 event as Carter. Bush was vice president at the time.

President Gerald Ford also visited Samford. He did so in 1996 to dedicate the Lucille Beeson Law Library in 1996.

I’m grateful to others for pointing out many of these appearances. Perhaps other presidents have visited Samford, if so let me know.

I don’t know of any foreign head of states to have visited Samford. But at least two heads of goverment have. Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher visited campus in 1992 as part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebration.

After he left office, her successor, John Major, delivered the Percy C. Ratliff lectures on campus in November 1997.

Who will be the next person to have visited Samford to be president? Who will be first Samford graduate to be a head of state? How many Samford alumni and former employees will be involved in President Carter’s funeral? As my father would have said, “only time will tell.”

All photos from Samford University Library Digital Collections. Consult the collections webpage for permissions.