Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Floating White House” Oakland, California 2008 Volume 5 Number 3 Connecting with FDR’s History A trip to the East Coast - A report by Marti Burchell The Board of Governors of the Presidential Yacht Potomac Association graciously agreed to send me on a trip to the East Coast to make contact with our counterparts in Washington DC, Warm Springs, and Hyde Park. The trip was fourteen days of site visits, meeting other devotees of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and learning as much as I could about these amazing leaders of American History. DC was my first stop and thus starts my travelogue. Washington DC in the spring can be truly glorious, and the city was showing off its best on my trip East in April. The famous cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and all the spring flowers were at their peak. As I walked along the Tidal Basin and visited the memorials, the trees and flowers added a marvelous counterpoint to these solemn granite and marble monuments to America’s leaders. The Roosevelt Memorial is one of the most beautiful and inspiring memorials of the many I visited in DC. The layout and thoughtfulness that went into the design and construction was evident in all regards. Each aspect of the memorial gave me cause to stop and reflect on the accomplishments of this extraordinary man and his wife Eleanor. Everywhere I looked the monument was complemented by the profusion of cherry blossoms and other flowering trees, making this stop one of the highlights of my trip. A visit to the Presidential Yacht Sequoia and the United States Navy Museum was next. I met with Kim Nielsen, Director of the museum, for a tour of the Sequoia just prior to her departure on a private charter. The boat is docked on the Anacosta River and recently returned from winter dry dock- ing and storage. Touring the ship, one is acutely aware of the extreme limitations and difficulties that President Roosevelt had to deal with because of his wheelchair. The ladder to the lower deck is very narrow, as is the passage way to the presidential bedroom. There was an elevator installed on the Sequoia to accom- modate FDR, but even so maneuverability would have been difficult at best. Owner, Gary Silversmith, was a cordial and knowledgeable host and very passionate about the Se- quoia and her place in presidential life. The history of the boat is very well documented in photos and scrapbooks and she is a charming and well kept vessel. The Navy Museum, next stop on my agenda, is located in the Washington Navy Yard, and is a true gem. The building itself is extremely long and was once a working repair shop. The curator of the mu- seum has done an extraordinary job of developing and placing exhibits so, as one walks the length of the building, US Naval history unfolds along a timeline. It is filled with wonderful models and artifacts from America’s proud naval history. The next day April 9, I was privileged to be invited to attend two spectacular events. The first was an all day event called Toward a New, New Deal, FDR’s Liberalism and the Future of American Democracy. This symposium, held at DC’s historic Willard Hotel, was presented by The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and The Roosevelt Institution in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the First Hundred Days and the beginning of the New Deal. The symposium met its goals. Discussion was lively and broad in scope. I was very privileged to be allowed to participate and I was extremely encouraged by the intelligence and commitment of the young representatives of the Roosevelt Institution. The second event was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Distinguished Public Service Award. This very elegant dinner event was held in the rotunda at the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue. The award served two purposes: 1) to honor individuals whose careers exemplify President Roosevelt’s extraordinary dedication to public service and 2) to inspire renewed national commitment to the principles for which FDR stood, and to call attention to the crucial role that Congress plays in shaping and moving America’s agenda forward. California’s own Nancy Pelosi was one of the recipi- ents. continued on page 2 Page 2 Marti’s Musings……………. Be a friend The Presidential Yacht Potomac is approaching its 75th birthday, please consider making this special year the one you choose to become a Friend of the Potomac. Why, you may ask, is this small gesture of sup- port so important, and why do I keep harping on “becoming a Friend”? Let me give you an overview of why organization memberships mean so much to non-profits. Aside from the obvious financial support of programs and projects your memberships represent the following: • A very real and tangible statement of your support, as a member of the community, for the organization, what it represents and who it serves. • A commitment to the mission statement of the organization. • A visible measure for Foundations and Corporations to evaluate the programs, mission, and viability of an organization. This is vital when a grant is under consideration. • The greater the percentage of association members in relationship to the number of actual Board Members and Volunteers the more obvious the “buy-in support” of the organization. • All of the funds represented by your memberships support our Educational Cruise Programs for Bay Area fifth through eighth grade school children. A visual reminder of this important reason to join the Friends of the Potomac can be seen below. n Connecting with FDR. The following day I was off to the lovely state of Georgia to explore and learn about Warm Springs and the part it played in President Roosevelt’s life. I was fortunate to have a guide for this portion of the trip. Dr. Chris Breiseth, President of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute drove me to Warm Springs, and spent the next couple of days with me exploring the riches of this historic landmark. Dr. Breiseth has an extraordinary breadth of knowledge about President Roosevelt and his life and times. We were the guests of the Advisory Board of the Little White House at their annual dinner and the following day at the 63rd Commemoration Ceremony of the death of FDR, held at the Little White House. This was a lovely event, and special guests that day were several of the famous Tuskegee Air- men. Later that day I had the opportunity to visit inside the Little White House and Dowdell’s Knob, famous for the Roosevelt Barbeques, and to spend several hours with Greg Schimeg, Executive Di- rector of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. The Institute is in a state of transition, and Mr. Schimeg is working to develop new programs to bring an infusion of much needed support for the continued operation and maintenance of the facility. The warm water therapy pools and museum at Warm Springs were the next stops. The pools were empty, as there are some leakage issues, but one could easily imagine them filled with therapists and patients working to strengthen their bodies in the warm water. I could also imagine the dynamic and smiling President Roosevelt encouraging his fellow patients to try a bit harder. The museum, while small, was filled with grim reminders of the terrible damage that Polio inflicted on the youth of that time. n Next issue, Hyde Park and New York. • Words from the Crew Page 3 The Road To Becoming An Able Seaman – Part 2 n the last issue of Potomac Currents, I related my experience at San Diego’s Lifeboatman School as part of the road to becoming an Able Seaman (AB). Four other Potomac Crewmen have recently com- I pleted equivalent Lifeboatman training. Garth Lenz and Taylor McClung received their training as Merchant Marine Cadets at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo. John Kaehms and Tom Howard acquired their knowledge by virtue of holding 100 Ton Merchant Mariner Captains Licenses, and only needed to do some brush up work before setting for the Coast Guard AB tests. My experience is six and a half years of Naval Service and working as an Ordinary Seaman aboard the Potomac. I opted to attend the Able Seaman Course at Training Resources, Ltd. in San Diego. There were eight of us in class. Our first learning session was an introduction to the Code of Federal Regulations, that governs the US Maritime Industry, followed by Nautical Terminology. The student guide took us from A to Z in nautical terms. AB training is geared to prepare the student for work on the Merchant Fleet of Cargo Ships, so it was only natural that our next topic was cargo handling. We learned about cranes and the rigging used to load and unload cargo. After lunch, we had our first session of “Knots of the Day.” Each day we were introduced to a couple new knots and practiced those we had learned in previous sessions. We finished this day with two hours of Anchoring and Ground Tackle study. Tuesday morning’s subject was Deck Department and Bridge Team Organization geared to the big ships, but very apropos to the Potomac. We spent several hours on Marlinspike Sea- manship, basically working with lines (ropes, for you land lubbers). We learned to splice lines, which was a review for me. I have been splicing lines growing up on a farm in Minnesota since I was about twelve years old. A new subject for me was learning to identify and work with vari- ous types of wire lines.