ULYSSES GRANT Y BARACK OBAMA

Y, no obstante, cuando caminábamos hacia Las Ramblas, sentí que le conocía tan bien como se puede conocer a cualquier hombre

La atracción que provoca La Rambla en todo el mundo la convierte en cita ineludible para todo aquel que visita Barcelona. También, presidentes de los EEUU. Así, el republicano Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) se paseó por ella después de abandonar la presidencia. El demócrata Barack Obama (Hawái, 1961) haría lo mismo en 1987. Entonces era un anónimo estudiante que deambuló por el paseo como un mochilero más. Y es que la relación entre EEUU y Barcelona viene de lejos. Debido a la pujanza de la industria textil, el presidente John Adams nombraría cónsul a William Willis en 1797. Era la tercera ciudad europea en contar con este tipo de representación diplomática.

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".