ULYSSES GRANT AND BARACK OBAMA

And yet, when walking through Las Ramblas, I felt I knew him as well as anyone can know any man

This worldwide interest caused by La Rambla makes it an unmissable stop for those who visit Barcelona. Presidents of the USA are no exception. Republican Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) went all over it after leaving the presidency. Also Democrat Barack Obama (Hawaii, 1961) in 1987. By that time, he was an anonymous student wandering this street like a backpacker. The relationship between the US and Barcelona is an historical one. It begins in 1797. Barcelona had a strong textile industry that North America was interested on it. For this reason, President John Adams would appoint William Willis as consul of Barcelona that reason. Hence, it was the third European city having this type of diplomatic representation.

Ulysses Grant stayed at historical Hotel Oriente, one of the most luxurious buildings in the city. He arrived at the end of November 1878 accompanied by his wife, Julia Boggs Dent. It was one of the stops of European tour they made between 1877 and 1879. He didn’t get a very pleasant impression: "There is no place in the world with such an uncomfortable trip than Spain”. Grant studied at the West Point Military Academy. He is considered the architect of the reconstruction of the country and one of the heroes of the Civil War (1861-1865). He got ruined as a result of failed investments. That was the reason why writer and editor Mark Twain offered to write his memoirs.

Barack Obama wrote in the book Dreams from my father the impressions of his trip to Kenya, previous stop in Spain. On the bus that brought him to Barcelona he met a Senegalese man looking for temporary work. After getting Estació del Nord, he explains: "We washed under the morning mist. Then, with our luggage on our shoulders, we started on our way to the city". That means, direction to the most international street. Thus: "And yet, when walking through Las Ramblas, I felt I knew him as well as anyone can know a man".