After Europe for the first two Olympiads, the USA has been awarded the right to host the third Olympic Games of the modern era. Two cities are in the running: Chicago and St. Louis. The I.O.C. asks President Theodore Roosevelt, Honorary President of the new U.S. Olympic Committee, to designate the city that will host the Games. Roosevelt, in order to avoid two major demonstrations taking place at each end of the country, designated St. Louis. It was therefore within the framework of the international exhibition commemorating the cession of Louisiana by France that the Games took place.