President Donald Trump marked the museum’s opening with historic pageantry, a Freedom Train arrival and the presentation of Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump officially opened the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota on Wednesday, cutting a red ribbon and delivering remarks during a patriotic ceremony held days before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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Trump brought Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor from the White House and presented it to the museum, saying the new library was a fitting home for the historic decoration.
”It was in the Roosevelt Room for many, many years,” Trump said. “I thought this would be a really appropriate place to have it.”
The president became the first visitor to tour the 96,000-square-foot museum, interacting with exhibits and viewing the building’s immersive displays and educational installations.
Roosevelt’s presidential papers remain housed at the Library of Congress and Harvard. The new library instead features personal artifacts from the former president’s life, including the 50-page speech that helped save him when it slowed a bullet during an assassination attempt in 1912. The museum also includes the bloodstained shirt Roosevelt was wearing at the time.
The library’s design was created to fit into the rugged landscape of the neighboring Little Missouri River Badlands and the Theodore Roosevelt National Forest, with architecture meant to blend with the region’s colorful buttes.
Trump arrived earlier aboard the Freedom Train, where he was greeted by thousands of attendees, many wearing patriotic clothing and displays. His motorcade was escorted by horseback riders dressed as Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, the First Volunteer U.S. Cavalry from the 1898 Spanish-American War.
Security was tight for the event. Magnetometers were set up several blocks from the grounds, and guests were required to board buses to enter the ceremony area.
Thousands of people began arriving before 6 a.m. local time. Traffic backed up along the only road in and out of town, and organizers established parking roughly 12 miles away, using dozens of school buses to shuttle visitors to the site.
Many attendees said the event was a major moment for North Dakota and a meaningful start to Fourth of July celebrations.
“It means so much to us in North Dakota,” rancher James Walker said while waiting in a long line to get through security. “It’s all we’ve been talking about for the last month, and to have Trump here for the 250th is something our kids and grandkids will be talking about for years to come.”
Interior Secretary and former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum accompanied Trump on the trip.
The president traveled to North Dakota aboard the nation’s new Air Force One, marking the Boeing 747’s maiden voyage since Qatar gifted the aircraft to Trump last year.
The visit was Trump’s first trip to North Dakota of his second term and his fourth as president.
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