Barack and Michelle Obama surprise first visitors to newly opened presidential center [View all]
Source: AP
By CLAIRE SAVAGE Updated 8:01 PM CDT, June 19, 2026
CHICAGO (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama surprised the first 100 visitors to walk through the doors of the new Obama Presidential Center, personally greeting them Friday.
The Obamas, joined by former “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton, also read “Where the Wild Things Are” to 25 school children at the Chicago Public Library branch inside the center. When the former president read Maurice Sendak’s line about being “king of all the wild things,” Michelle Obama interjected with, “Although there were no kings,” to applause.
Later, awed guests shook hands with the Obamas against the backdrop of a colorful, 38-foot-tall painting depicting a map of Chicago stretching to the ceiling, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s 1914 poem about the city: “stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”
“It was perfect. It was great,” said 18-year-old Houefa Agassounon from Chicago after the surprise visit from the Obamas. “I was literally crying. I asked for a hug and everything...............
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Former President Barack Obama greets the first group of visitors at the official opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
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Former President Barack Obama poses for a photograph after reading to school children on opening day of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in John Lewis Plaza, Friday, June 19, 2026, in Chicago. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
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