Photo: Library of Congress
For nearly a century, the president of the United States used US naval vessels and yachts to conduct foreign affairs, entertain guests, schmooze senators, and build relationships. From 1880 to 1977 a series of ships and yachts became part of routine life for the presidents, although the one who ended these “floating White Houses” later regretted it.
Over the decades, seven ships served the president, some for only a few trips, and one that served for over 40 years.
Let’s look at these vessels and dive into their presidential history.
The first ship was used by President Chester A. Arthur named the USS Despatch. Active from 1880-1891, the Despatch took President Grover Cleveland to the dedication ceremony for the Statue of Liberty in 1886.
From 1893-1897, Cleveland and his successor William McKinley used the USS Dolphin for executive purposes.
In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt upgraded the stature of the ships by using the USS Mayflower, a 275-foot luxury ship that had originally been built for a real estate tycoon. It had expensive details, a dinner table for 30 people and a crew of 150. The Mayflower was subsequently used by presidents Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Woodrow Wilson used the ship to woo Edith Boling Gault after his first wife Ellen died in 1914.
In 1929, Hoover decided to decommission the Mayflower as a cost cutting step at the beginning of the Great Depression.
However, in short order Hoover began using a much smaller but quite sumptuous wooden yacht named the Sequoia. Built in 1925, it was 104 feet in length and large enough to entertain up to 40 guests and 22 for dinner. Hoover liked to use it for fishing trips, and, in a tone-deaf decision, put the Sequoia on his 1932 Christmas Cards as the Depression surged on.
His successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, used the Sequoia at the outset of his presidency and had an elevator installed to accommodate his wheelchair. Later, from 1936-1945, FDR used the USS Potomac, a steel hulled ship better suited for him than a more flammable wooden ship.
From 1945-1953, Harry Truman used both the Sequoia and the USS Williamsburg. He liked the smaller Sequoia for his regular poker games up and down the Potomac River, and the larger Williamsburg for bigger events and longer cruises. The USS Williamsburg was decommissioned in 1953 by Dwight Eisenhower after one short trip at the start of his presidency.
Eisenhower preferred golfing to cruising, but when John F. Kenney became president in 1961 the Sequoia once more came front and center. Kennedy, a sailor all his life, loved to get out on the water. His last birthday party, his 46th, was held on the Sequoia in 1963.
Lyndon Johnson replaced the elevator on Sequoia with a wet bar and used the Sequoia as a location to negotiate with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union.
Richard Nixon used Sequoia by far the most frequently, taking over 100 trips from 1969-1974. He made his decision to resign the presidency on the Sequoia, asking the crew to turn out all the lights and playing God Bless America on the piano in the dark for 30 minutes.
Gerald Ford used Sequoia for cabinet meetings from time to time.
Ford’s successor, Jimmy Carter, had campaigned on being a Washington outsider and pledged to cut back on excessive spending. One of his targets was the Sequoia and its $800,000 per year maintenance cost. He had it sold at auction for $286,000 in 1977.
Carter came to regret his decision to get rid of the yacht. He later said, “The people thought I was not being reverent enough to the office, that I was too much of a peanut farmer. That shows that the American people want something of an element, of an image of monarchy in the White House.”
In subsequent decades, Sequoia has been sold and re-sold multiple times, most recently in 2016 for $7.8 million. As of 2023 it is in an enclosed maritime shop in Maryland undergoing a 5-year renovation.
After its decommissioning, the Potomac was used by a Mexican drug cartel for several years, then it was acquired by FDR’s son James Roosevelt. You can go on it at anchor in Oakland California as it’s open for tours.
While presidents had been flying since FDR in 1943, ultimately, Air Force One (official designation began in 1962) became the ride of preference for presidents, placing the presidential yacht into the quaint, yet beloved by some, portion of the history books.
Interested in learning more about the presidents? Visit the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery on the upper level of the Booth Western Art Museum. The gallery features original letters and photographs of every U.S. president. Learn more at www.boothmuseum.org.
