Pres. Roosevelt at the Dedication Ceremonies, St. Louis Exposition (1903)

On April 30, 1903, one hundred years to the day after the signing in Paris of the Louisiana Purchase agreement, President Theodore Roosevelt is in St Louis, Missouri, to dedicate the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which did not open until one year later. In this brief and choppy film, Roosevelt is visible in the center of the front row of a grandstand, which may also be the speaker's platform. He sits, talks to a neighbor, stands as if to salute the crowd, and seems to sit again. He keeps his right hand on the brim of his top hat. Meanwhile, open carriages go in front of the grandstand and stop.