Presidential visits at Tulane: Revisiting the campus moments that made history

History does not always arrive at a university in the pages of a textbook. Sometimes it comes with motorcades, crowded arenas and the rare opportunity to witness, up close, a person who time is guaranteed to remember.

Over the course of Tulane's 192-year history, there have been five visits from former, future and sitting U.S. presidents, moments that indelibly linked the university's story to the nation's and transformed familiar campus spaces into national stages.

As these influential figures took to the podium to share words of wisdom, announcements that changed the course of history and inspiring visions for the future, each individual emphasized the university's powerful role as a setting for the free exchange of ideas, as well as the decisions that shape our lives.

Here's a look back at these high-profile visits from those who have held America's highest office.

Fifty-one years ago, on April 23, 1975, a presidential address at Tulane marked a turning point in U.S. foreign policy. Then-President Gerald Ford delivered a historic speech from what is now Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse declaring that America's role in the Vietnam War had ended.

"Let the beacon light of the past shine forth from historic New Orleans, from Tulane University and from every other corner of this land to illuminate a boundless future for all Americans and a peace for all mankind," Ford said to conclude his address.

Watch highlights from the speech on YouTube.

On May 13, 2006, former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton delivered a memorable joint address at an especially poignant Commencement: the graduation ceremony for the class of 2006, who had returned to Tulane following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina during the fall 2005 semester.

The former presidents praised Tulanians' tenacity and dedication in helping lead the city's recovery. After describing the floodwaters which breached New Orleans' levees, Bush added, "Today we also know they couldn't break the spirit of the people who call this remarkable, improbable city home."

Clinton, who would visit Tulane again in 2008, likened the university's experience of the hurricane to the ceremony's musical invocation, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," performed by Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band.

"It was played the way Dixieland bands have always done it - at first low, weeping, sorrowful. Then, at the end of the funeral service, a new beginning, played fast and happy," Clinton said. "Life is like that - it's all about new beginnings. I wish you many more."

Nearly 3,500 people packed into Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Feb. 7, 2008, to hear an address from then-Sen. Barack Obama during his bid to become the Democratic nominee for the 2008 presidential election. Before going on to win the presidency later that year, Obama focused on New Orleans' enduring spirit in his speech, hailing the city as a one-of-a-kind place and a symbol of hope for the entire country.

"New Orleans is a city that has always shown America what is possible when we have the imagination to see the unseen, and the determination to work for it," he said.

In August 2024, then-President Joe Biden visited Tulane to announce up to $22.9 million in federal support for the bipartisan Cancer Moonshot initiative, a national effort to accelerate cancer research and improve outcomes.

The president and first lady Jill Biden met with J. Quincy Brown, associate professor in the School of Science and Engineering, to get a firsthand look at Brown's groundbreaking effort to develop MAGIC-SCAN - an advanced, machine-learning-assisted imaging system that helps doctors detect and remove even the smallest traces of cancer during surgery.