Franklin D. Roosevelt's “Floating White House” Happy 75Th Birthday
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Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Floating White House” Oakland, California 2011 Fall Edition INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Happy 75th Birthday to the USS Potomac By Paulette Langguth FDR and Churchill By EDWARD I. BLOOM The successful wartime alliance Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidential Yacht the USS Potomac is cel- between nations can be traced to ebrating her 75th birthday during 2011 - if it’s your 75th birthday year, the friendship and goodwill too, congratulations! Here are some of the interesting highlights of 1936: between these two top leaders . 3 Marti’s Musings Although LIFE did not actually publish a special By MARTI BURCHELL March 2nd edition, it does mark the date when the Welcome aboard to returning Potomac replaced the Sequoia as FDR’s presiden- crewmember Paul Harliss . 4 tial yacht. Now President Roosevelt and those around him could rest more easily. A ship with a Mooring Lines wooden hull had been replaced by one with a steel By VIRGINIA RAPP hull – thereby reducing the fire hazard; a ship with Consider sharing your skills as a gas engine had been replaced by one with a diesel a Potomac Volunteer. 4 engine – a much more efficient and safer propul- sion system; and a ship in which he had to be car- ried from one deck to another had been replaced Notes from the Archives by one with an elevator – giving him a much de- FDR Photos sired freedom from dependence on others. Now, By HANK LANEY, Curator instead of being a guest aboard Vincent Astor’s Our comprehensive photo ocean going yacht for the fishing vacations that collection documenting the life he loved, President Roosevelt had a ship where he and times of the President. 5 could truly rest, relax, enjoy the fishing and think MARCH 2, 1938 10 CENTS through matters of presidential policy. FDR’s Cars By BRAD BUNNIN Read about FDR’s relationship with automobiles both personal and on the campaign trail. 6 In California, as elsewhere in the Wind. Billboard Magazine published nation, the depression lingered on with the first pop music chart. 2011 Cruise Schedule unemployment at 16.9%. Thousands of History Cruises, Angel Island, Americans traveled to California hop- Dockside Tours and Blue Grass ing to get work in orchards and fields. & Bach await you. 8 They were often met with guards, Potomac Profiles dogs, and signs turning away the “un- Chronicler of all things desirables”. In October of 1936, John Roosevelt – Longtime Potomac Steinbeck wrote The Harvest Gypsies, volunteer Les Dropkin .. .10 which was published in seven install- ments for the San Francisco News. Friends of the Potomac The most important page in this This work would later become part of issue. .11 the classic, The Grapes of Wrath. POTOMAC LINKS: Olympic Star Jesse Owens our most popular movies Nationally, Visit the Potomac on FaceBook! were: The Alamo, The Great Ziegfeld, Cruises and Special Events The Charge of the Light Brigade, and The 1936 Olympic Games were held in Student Tours Follow the Fleet, starring Fred Astaire Berlin, Germany with our great Jesse Private Charters and Events and Ginger Rogers. Topping the charts Owens humiliating Hitler’s Aryan Su- Become a Friend of the Potomac for new books was Gone With The permen by winning four gold medals. Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, was completed and began creating hydroelectric power. Killer tornadoes struck Tupelo, Mississippi and Gainesville, Georgia. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat) was re-elected for a second term defeating Alf Landon (Republican) and William Lemke (Union). The average cost of a new house was $3,925, a gallon of gas 10 cents, a loaf of bread 8 cents, a Studebaker car $665, and rent aver- aged at $24 per month. This was all covered by the average annual wages of $1,713. Born this year were: Jim Henson, Winnie Mandela, David Carradine, Ursula Andress, Alan Alda, Glen Campbell, Charlie Daniels, Engelbert Humperdinck, Glenda Jackson, F. W. deKlerk, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Landon, John McCain, Mary Tyler Moore, Roy Orbison, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, and Yves Saint Laurent. Now there’s an interesting mix. On the Campaign Trail Around the world: Following the depression dictatorships were established in Mexico, Bulgaria and Peru. Mussolini an- nounced the official foundation of the New Roman Empire following the capture of Addis Ababa. The Spanish Civil War began. King Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. Japanese Marines took control of the Shanghai district of Chi- na. Chiang Kai-Shek declared war on Japan The Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage over the Atlantic. The BBC started the first public television broadcasts in London. FDR goes to South America in November 1936 for his “Good Neighbor” cruise. BBC News Monitoring Room The world’s major political leaders were: Australia, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons; Brazil, President Getulio Var- gas; Canada, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King; Germany, Chancellor Adolf Hitler; Italy, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini; Japan, Prime Minister Keisuke Okada (till March 9) and Prime Minister Koki Hirota; Mexico, President Lazaro Cardenas; Russia/Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Central Committee Joseph Stalin. The history of the USS Potomac is on our website www.usspotomac.org. but better yet, come to Oakland’s Jack London Square for a tour of the “Floating White House” and help us celebrate her 75th Birthday. Happy Birthday to the USS Potomac! -2- dictating, changing his wording and his inflection, he orally rehearsed his remarks. In this speech Churchill quipped that FDR and CHURCHILL if his father had been American and his mother British, rath- By Edward I. Bloom er than the other way round, then he might have gotten there on his own. The celebrated and momentous personal relationship be- tween FDR and Churchill can be said to have begun when A year later, FDR, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was overseas on shortly after the an inspection trip in 1918. The two were introduced to each Allied invasion other during a dinner honoring the Lord Mayor of London. of North Africa, While FDR remembered this occasion Churchill did not. they met at Casa- blanca. At a joint Their true relationship began on September 11, 1939 when press conference FDR wrote to Churchill to both congratulate him on be- FDR made an coming First Lord of the Admiralty and to open a private, unplanned an- personal communication channel. This initiated a series nouncement that of letters and messages between them that continued until the Allies would FDR’s death in April 1945. FDR came to address his cor- accept nothing short of “unconditional surrender” from respondence to “Former Naval Person”; Churchill in turn the Axis powers. Churchill at once seconded this position, addressed his messages to POTUS [President of the United though it had not been previously discussed. After the end States] – a designation that has since come into general use. of the conference Churchill insisted that FDR accompany The breadth of their correspondence ranged from details of him on a drive to see the Marrakech Mountains at sunset. their personal lives, Lend-Lease issues, wartime strategy After viewing the scene from a tower, Churchill had his art and dealing with the personalities of various world and Al- supplies brought up to him and painted a water-color that lied leaders. he then gave to FDR as a present and memento of that time together. In August 1941 FDR and Churchill, both now leaders of their respec- tive countries, met secretly in New- foundland for the Atlantic Confer- ence. The “Atlantic Charter”, a commu- nique of the results of the meeting, set out a vision of a post-war world. After the Pearl Harbor at- tack Churchill came to Washington in late December and stayed at the White House for more than two weeks. He brought with him several military maps, had them pinned to the walls of his White House sitting room and had them Painting by Winston Churchill given to FDR in 1943. updated every morning. FDR thought this a good idea, al- though some thought it was out of jealousy, and ordered The personal bonds between FDR and Churchill smoothed that a small room on the first floor of the White House be the way for the most successful wartime alliance between converted to a war map room, with daily updates and a 24- nations, which sometimes had conflicting interests and hour guard stationed outside the door. It was during this stay goals. Despite differences as to the allocation of Lend-Lease that Churchill may have suffered a minor heart attack while material, whether to pursue a Mediterranean or a Western straining to raise a second-floor window. This was kept a European strategy, when to open the “second front”, and closely guarded secret. numerous other diverse issues, the example of the obvious friendship and good will between the two top leaders en- At this time FDR studied Churchill preparing for a major abled their respective staffs and advisors to work things out speech to a joint session of Congress. Pacing up and down, and cooperate as never before seen in world history. -3- MARTI’S MUSINGS…Return of a Sailor By Marti Burchell “Welcome aboard sailor”, to returning crewmember Paul Harliss. Paul sailed 1 on the Potomac from May 1940 to November 1942 during 2 /2 years of Presi- dent Roosevelt’s term in office. He had the opportunity to observe the com- ings and goings of congressional leaders, heads of state and royalty while serving on the ship. We are very fortunate that we were able to host Paul on his re- cent visit to the West Coast, and to the Potomac.