Flanked by Secret Service agents, Ronald and Nancy Reagan shake hands with well-wishers in the Monmouth College gymnasium following his campaign appearance in February 1976.

Reagan’s 1976 Monmouth visit mixed nostalgia with politics

MONMOUTH, Ill. — As campus historian for Monmouth College, I am occasionally asked how many U.S. presidents have visited Monmouth. No sitting president has ever visited Monmouth, but as many as nine former or future presidents have made appearances in town (it’s not yet clear whether or not James Buchanan joined the ranks of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, McKinley, Ford, Reagan, George H. W…