Illinois presidents celebrated in bicentennial exhibit

Illinois presidents celebrated in bicentennial exhibit
A saddle belonging to Ulysses S. Grant.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum will celebrate the Illinois bicentennial with a special exhibit exploring the lives and accomplishments of the four U.S. presidents who called Illinois home. “From Illinois to the White House: Lincoln, Grant, Reagan, Obama” opens Friday, March 23, and run for the remainder of 2018. The exhibit will examine the connections of those four presidents to Illinois, their achievements as politicians and communicators, and the first ladies who helped them succeed. Rare artifacts will be on display including the table where Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War, the note cards Ronald Reagan used in his “Tear Down This Wall” speech, the Grammy that Barack Obama won for the audio-book version of Dreams from My Father and the Bible on which Grant’s head rested after his death.