But then it isn't just any old porch. This
porch, said to be around 880 feet long and proclaimed to be the
longest front porch in the world by "Ripley's Believe It or
Not," is that of the legendary Grand Hotel.
It is there that hotel owner Musser, 71, has
greeted five presidents, 23 presidential contenders, five vice
presidents and four first ladies. Not all were hotel guests, but
all were visitors.
Today, he will greet Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice
President Dick Cheney and keynote speaker at this weekend's
Midwest Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference.
And with her departure will come another chapter
in the rich history of the hotel, which has become a political
mecca in the Midwest.
As the Grand's owner, Musser has had an
extraordinary perch from which to view the the great and
near-great who have crossed the porch.
"It's been interesting to observe and to
have known a great number of Michigan politicians over the
years," Musser says. "It's certainly been an honor to
welcome and to have in our midst those who sought the
presidency."
As a young hotel worker, he recalls seeing
former President Harry S Truman walking the full length of the
porch in 1955.
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy dropped
by in 1960 after clinching the support of Michigan's
then-governor, G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams.
Republican President Gerald R. Ford visited the
hotel when he was a guest of Michigan Gov. William G. Milliken
at the Governor's Summer Residence in 1976. Ford, Musser says,
spent a lot of time at the hotel, some of it on the hotel's
tennis courts.
Republican George H. W. Bush stayed at the Grand
multiple times, but not during his presidency.
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and wife Hillary
stayed at the Grand in July 1987 during a Democratic Governors'
Association conference hosted by Michigan Gov. James J.
Blanchard.
Clinton was among eight Democratic presidential
candidates at the conference, which drew a cluster of national
political writers who days earlier had covered the National
Governors' Conference in Traverse City.
It was the Grand's largest single gathering of
presidential hopefuls. The Detroit News reported at the time:
"The long porch of the Grand Hotel looked like a giant
smorgasbord, as would-be residents dished it out to reporters
who hopped from one setting to another."
Among them were the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen.
Al Gore of Tennessee, later to become vice president and the
2000 Democratic presidential nominee.
Jackson stayed in the W. Stewart Woodfill Suite,
named after the crusty owner of the Grand from 1945-65. Woodfill
was the uncle of Musser, who, with his wife Amelia, acquired the
hotel in 1965.
Musser, now chairman of the hotel, mused that
his late uncle, a curmudgeon and conservative fellow,
"probably would not have approved of Mr. Jackson" --
and "sure as hell" would not have wanted him to become
president.
The Grand was the site of more presidential
campaign theatrics in 1987. TV evangelist Pat Robertson, then a
contender, was among speakers at the September Republican
Leadership Conference on the island.
At the time, Robertson's followers had
temporarily seized control of the Michigan GOP. Supporters of
Vice President Bush, led by John Engler, then a state senator
who later became governor, rallied Michigan Republicans to
assure support for Bush's presidential nomination.
Other speakers at that Mackinac conference were
Congressman Jack Kemp of New York, another presidential hopeful,
and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, who in 1996
became the GOP challenger against Clinton.
Among his presidential encounters at the Grand,
Musser says his most memorable was with Ford. Among first
ladies, "Mrs. Clinton was probably as warm as anyone. She
did her homework and was very knowledgeable about the
hotel."
Other first ladies Musser welcomed to the Grand
included Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford and Laura Bush. Five
former first ladies have suites named after them at the Grand --
Johnson, Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Rosalyn Carter.
As a young hotel worker, Musser shook hands
there with ex-Vice President Alben W. Barkley. Among those who
were to become vice president were Ford, Gore, Nelson A.
Rockefeller and Spiro T. Agnew. Summing up his stewardship of
the Grand and its rich political history, Musser says: "It
has really been a treat and an honor to have been around this
place so long."
