President Franklin Roosevelt addressed a huge throng from the rear platform of his train at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 2, 1937, upon his arrival at the Great Northern station in Spokane from Grand Coulee Dam.

FDR’s 1932 campaign turned a train into a stage for calm leadership when the country needed it most. Years later, Truman revived the whistle-stop tour to defy the odds and take his message directly to ...