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 speakers 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