{"id":3352,"date":"2026-06-20T00:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/barack-and-michelle-obama-surprise-first-visitors-to-newly-opened-presidential-center\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T00:31:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:31:56","slug":"barack-and-michelle-obama-surprise-first-visitors-to-newly-opened-presidential-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/barack-and-michelle-obama-surprise-first-visitors-to-newly-opened-presidential-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack and Michelle Obama surprise first visitors to newly opened presidential center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama surprised the first 100 visitors to walk through the doors of the new\u00a0Obama Presidential Center, personally greeting them Friday.<\/p>

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The Obamas, joined by former\u00a0\u201cReading Rainbow\u201d\u00a0host LeVar Burton, also read \u201cWhere the Wild Things Are\u201d to 25 school children at the Chicago Public Library branch inside the center. When the former president read Maurice Sendak\u2019s line about being \u201cking of all the wild things,\u201d Michelle Obama interjected with, \u201cAlthough there were no kings,\u201d to applause.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 1914 poem about the city: \u201cstormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was perfect. It was great,\u201d said 18-year-old Houefa Agassounon from Chicago after the surprise visit from the Obamas. \u201cI was literally crying. I asked for a hug and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote a letter to the Obama Foundation last year, asking if she could be there when it opened. She said meeting the Obamas was a bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the greatest thing of my 18 years of life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Juneteenth\u00a0opening followed a\u00a0star-studded dedication ceremony\u00a0where the Obamas gave rousing speeches to an audience including three former presidents, their former first ladies, and a host of politicians, A-list celebrities, musicians, athletes and others. Thousands more joined the livestream from a nearby park.<\/p>

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