Who was president when Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition opened?

Ulysses S. Grant was president when Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition opened.

The exposition opened on May 10, 1876, during Grant’s second presidential term. Grant and his wife, Julia, attended the opening ceremony, which also included Brazil’s Emperor Pedro II and Empress Teresa Cristina.

Grant had been elected president in 1868 and reelected in 1872. His administration oversaw the centennial year during the difficult post-Civil War Reconstruction era. The exposition aimed to present the United States as an industrial and technological power while commemorating independence.

Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1876 and took office in March 1877, after the exposition had closed. That timing makes Hayes a common near-miss answer, but Grant was the president at both the opening and the main period of the fair.