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

On April 30, 1903—exactly one hundred years after the Louisiana Purchase was signed in Paris—President Theodore Roosevelt attended the dedication of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, a fair that would not open until the following year. In the brief, choppy footage he sits in the centre of the front‑row grandstand that also serves as the speaker’s platform, converses briefly with a neighbor, rises to salute, returns to his seat, and keeps his right hand on his hat’s brim while open carriages pass and stop before the platform.

• TR Theodore Roosevelt