Booth Blog

Imagine Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison having a drink and relishing the concept of checks and balances they’d just enshrined in our founding Constitution.

“Just wait until they need a new Supreme Court Justice. They’ll have to engage all three branches of government to accomplish it. Won’t that be glorious?”

Since 1789 that “glorious” experience has been accomplished 164 times. The President (Executive Branch) makes a nomination to the Senate (Legislative Branch), which provides “advice and consent” for the Supreme Court (Judicial Branch).

The Founding Fathers also imagined this process to be relatively pure and free of political shenanigans. In that, they suffered from naivete. Right off the bat, George Washington, who had the most justices confirmed among all the presidents at 10, had one of his nominees rejected by the Senate.   James Madison, the 4^th President, had one nominee rejected. Over time we’ve seen 12 rejections in all, the most recent being Ronald Reagan’s nominee Robert Bork, in 1987. George W. Bush withdrew two nominations during his two terms. Merrick Garland was nominated by Barack Obama, but no action was taken.

The make-up of the Supreme Court, as realized by the number of justices, also evolved over time and was subject to political pressures.  Our 17^th President, Andrew Johnson, was so reviled that the Congress passed a law in 1866 to reduce the number of justices from 10 to 8, to prevent Johnson from nominating any replacements. After Johnson survived impeachment (by one vote) and left office in 1869, Congress passed another law to cancel the 1866 law and settle the number of justices at 9, where it’s been ever since.

All was quiet on that front until 1937. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was 9 for 9 in getting his nominees to the court confirmed, got a firm slap from the Court over some of his New Deal laws. Roosevelt was furious and sought ways to work around the Court. He floated the idea of expanding the number of justices from 9 to 15, a move that became known as court packing.  His strategy never made it into law.

For decades, these nominations received scant attention, with 52% of them confirmed by voice vote alone. The last voice vote was for one of Lyndon Johnson’s nominees in 1965. The nature of our politics now demands a roll call vote where a Senator must cast their vote in public, thus open to accountability, criticism, and pressure.

The Senate Rules for confirmation have also been adjusted over the years. It used to require a 67% majority for confirmation. Later, it was lowered to 60%, and as of 2017, now requires only a simple majority.  Given the current polarized political environment, if the bar was 67%, it’s likely no justices would ever be confirmed, eventually breaking down our government’s judicial branch entirely.

Setting aside the political nature of these nominations, some interesting bits of trivia have accumulated over the years.

William Howard Taft is the only man who has served both as president and Supreme Court justice.  While Chief Justice Taft lobbied Congress to build the Court its own home across the street from the Capitol.  He resigned his position to retire, as many do, just prior to his death in 1930.

One other man might have accomplished Taft’s feat, had Charles Evans Hughes defeated Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Hughes resigned his seat on the Court to run for president. Later, Herbert Hoover nominated him to rejoin the Court and he did so in 1930.

Also of interest: John Marshall, our 4^th Chief Justice, was nominated by John Adams. He was Thomas Jefferson’s cousin, although they were in fact political rivals.

In times of national crisis, the Chief Justice has occasionally played a significant role in resolving the issue with presumed integrity and without bias.  Earl Warren served as the head of the Warren Commission in the 1964 investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  In 1974, Warren Burger headed the Court during the Watergate crisis, supervising several milestone decisions that ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Lyndon Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall as the first black on the Court in 1967. Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female on the Court in 1983. Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomajor as the first Hispanic on the court in 2009. Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black female onto the Court in 2022.

In the 21^st Century, given the high stakes involved, the process in the future likely will not be “glorious”.

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.

If you’ve been to Washington DC, one lasting memory is surely of The Monuments. From the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument obelisk, from the FDR Memorial, to the circular Jefferson Memorial, our nation’s capital doesn’t lack for massive marble and granite remembrances of its heroes.

As you may know, a new one was dedicated in September 2020 for Dwight D. Eisenhower, an American war hero of World War II who served 2 terms in the highest office.

However, you may not know the rest of the Eisenhower Memorial story.

That “Ike” deserves a monument is indisputable.  He rose from rural Kansas to graduate West Point in the ‘class that the Stars fell on’, due to all the generals who came from that group. He did play football, and after a severe injury, was a football coach at Army.

His army career moved relatively slowly between the World Wars, but once we were attacked at Pearl Harbor, his effective leadership and political skills took him to the very top as Supreme Allied Commander and to victory in Europe.

You may recall seeing signs on our interstate highways for the Eisenhower Interstate System.  Ike had the idea for this huge network having led an army expedition across rural USA in 1919 to demonstrate the mobility of motorized army equipment. They traversed the Lincoln Highway for months, finally arriving in San Francisco, whereupon Eisenhower concluded there was a tremendous need for a network of roads that could quickly move an army in case of attack. As President, he proposed this massive network in 1956, creating thousands of jobs and igniting a booming suburban development that continues to this day.

After his stunning success in Europe, many wondered if he would follow the footsteps of so many military heroes from our past and run for President.  He wasn’t sure either, so it took nearly 8 years for him to walk into the Oval Office in January 1953.  In the interim, he served as President of Columbia University, helping the trustees raise millions for the school.

He served a full two terms as our President, succeeding Harry Truman.  Richard Nixon was his Vice President for both terms. Ike retired in 1961, passing the torch to John F. Kennedy.

Ike died in 1969, and surprisingly it took 30 years to have a memorial to this hero approved by Congress.  As they say, ‘the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly’ in D

It then took 21 more years to get the memorial on 4 acres constructed for $150 million! Slowly turning wheels indeed.

The actual construction only took 2.5 years, light speed compared to the 30-year construction of the Washington Monument, and 8-year construction (using Georgia marble) of the Lincoln Memorial.

We now have another massive monument to a military/presidential hero in Washington. Touring these legendary places is among the highlights of any trip to DC, whether it’s your first or 101^st trip. Some are most famous and easily located. Some, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, are harder to find, as it’s on an island in the Potomac River!

Plan to see the Eisenhower Memorial next time you are in DC. It’s located on the National Mall between the US Capitol and The Smithsonian.

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.

So, you’ve been President of the United States.  How do you do earn a living after having the most powerful job on earth?

The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.  In the majority of cases, it’s not at all realistic for them to return to the occupation they held prior to the presidency.  For example, Dwight Eisenhower couldn’t just resume his Army career after his two-term presidency.

The level of poverty some of the founding presidents experienced can be surprising: both James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson were ‘land rich and cash poor’. Monroe was eventually forced to move to New York to live with his daughter in 1831. Jefferson had to sell his book collection to the Library of Congress to raise cash.

Prior to 1958 presidents received no pension. In fact, the spectacle of a former president going broke, as Harry Truman experienced, was the catalyst to passing a law granting pensions to ex-presidents to protect the ‘dignity of the office’.

But didn’t they make great money while they were president?  Not really. Congress sets the salary and benefits for the president. It’s been changed only 5 times in our 235-year history.  George Washington made $25,000 a year as president. Bill Clinton made $200,000 in 1998. Joe Biden earns $400,000 a year. In modern times, that’s not a lot of money when compared to athletes, entertainers, and CEOs.

Yes, former presidents get a pension now: $210,700 per year, same as a working cabinet member. Plus, Secret Service protection for life, office expenses, etc.

So what did they do to make a living? Starting in the 20^th century, presidents mostly made money by writing books and giving speeches. Doing much more was considered ‘undignified’; it wasn’t appropriate to ‘cash in’ on the office.

All that changed in a big way with Gerald Ford.

Ford was a 25-year member of Congress who ascended to the Vice Presidency when Spiro Agnew was forced from office for criminal conduct. Richard Nixon, embroiled in the Watergate Affair, needed Ford for his squeaky-clean image and ease of gaining Senate approval. Months later, Nixon resigned, elevating Ford to the presidency.  Ford spent 30 months in office, losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Gerald Ford wasn’t wealthy, but he did want financial security.

His first decision was to endorse a collection of medals depicting 100 significant events in presidential history. At the time he accepted the endorsement fee, he said: “I feel totally justified in doing it.”

But that was just the beginning. Ford became a hot commodity, sought after for positions on corporate boards of directors, consulting contracts, plus the usual book deals and speeches.

In a two-year period, he joined 8 different boards, many of which also came with lucrative consulting contracts. He claimed to refuse many who approached him and did not join any defense contractor boards. In 1986 he earned over $500,000 from these board seats, made 30 speeches at $15,000 a pop, and took in his pension of $153,000.

While other living ex-presidents such as Carter and Nixon stuck to writing books and refused all offers of board seats, Ford claimed a ‘clear conscience’ in pursuing these opportunities. He broke the mold and set the precedent for future presidents to follow similar paths.

Today, ex-presidents such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama earn tens of millions of dollars on book deals alone.  Clinton went heavy on the speaker’s circuit, earning $200,000 a speech, making many millions each year. Ronald Reagan made $2 million for one speech and visit to Japan just 10 months after his retirement.

To be fair, Ford and most former presidents such as Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush also support charities and global relief efforts with their time and influence. But it seems our media – driven, pop culture world can’t get enough of these men, no matter their political party.  They’ve reached the pinnacle of influence and are able to command deals that might make our Founding Fathers scratch their collective heads as to the financial heights the presidency can lift a man.

The olden days of retiring to a quiet life of leisure seems quaint now. Gerald Ford broke down those walls with a path – clearing clarity for his successors to follow. Safe to say, our ex-presidents no longer worry about paying the bills.  They just have to worry about being perceived as greedy and foregoing the ‘dignity of the office’.

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.

When I think of the presidents and music, my mind drifts from the elegance of Pablo Casals’ cello performance at the Kennedy White House in 1961 to boisterous convention halls playing John Philip Sousa marches.

Yet, a select few of our presidents have been musicians of the first order, able to play and be recognized for their skills.

Let’s examine them in roughly chronological order.

Thomas Jefferson was a virtuoso violinist whose skills helped him win the hand of Martha Skelton in marriage. Her other suitors backed away once Jefferson serenaded Martha on his violin.  He also played cello and clavichord.

John Quincy Adams our 6^th President, was an accomplished flutist who wrote his own compositions while attending Harvard University.

Our 9^th President, John Tyler, who ascended to the presidency after the death of William Henry Harrison, trained from an early age to become a concert violinist. His father pressured him to become a lawyer instead, so Tyler dropped his professional musical aspirations. After his term in office, he often played with his second wife Julia, an accomplished guitarist, to entertain their guests.

Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson also played violin after their oval office hours. Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan played harmonica.  Coolidge’s Vice President, Charles Dawes, wrote the later-to-be-famous song All in The Game.  Gilded Age president Chester Arthur played the banjo.

Warren Harding played multiple instruments too, famously playing the tuba at the 1920 Republican Convention to celebrate winning the nomination for president.

Both Harry Truman and Richard Nixon were accomplished pianists, honing their skills from an early age. However, this common talent was at the center of a feud that lasted over a decade.

Nixon, who wrote Concerto #1 of his own at an early age, also played violin, saxophone, clarinet, and accordion.  He ran for Vice President on the 1952 Republican ticket with Dwight Eisenhower, becoming the aggressive attacker of then sitting President Harry Truman.

Truman, a Democrat, also trained on the piano from an early age, and famously played as a politician, once with movie star Lauren Bacall sitting atop the piano.

Harry Truman never took kindly to criticism.  He didn’t like all the accusations tossed toward his administration by Richard Nixon during the 1952 campaign. It’s clear he held a grudge against Nixon long after he left the White House and Eisenhower/Nixon took over.

The feud spilled out in public in 1958 when Harry refused in advance to play a duet with Nixon at the National Press Club in Washington.

In 1969, as president, Nixon tried to mend fences with Truman, donating the piano Truman played at the White House for use at his retirement home in Independence Missouri.  Nixon played the Missouri Waltz for Harry and Bess, but Truman stood by stone faced and unwilling to smile for the cameras, holding onto that grudge.

Nixon went on to set new standards for White House public entertainment by playing piano to accompany singer Pearl Bailey and duets with Duke Ellington.

In modern times, Bill Clinton’s saxophone-playing appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1992 may have been a turning point in that campaign against George H. W. Bush. He played Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel wearing sunglasses and won over the hearts and minds of many younger and minority voters. Once in office, Clinton had a special music room set up at the White House so he could play at any time.

Lastly, although he did not play an instrument, Barack Obama was a pretty good singer, crooning to Sweet Home Chicago and Let’s Stay Together.

Altogether, 13 of our 46 presidents have had legitimate musical skills, helping us flesh out more of their backgrounds and bringing them to life.

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.

Just the words ‘comfort food’ brings to mind delicious pleasures that can take you far away from stressful days.

Of course, presidents are just like us in that way.  Everyone has their go to ‘comfort food’, the one thing you like to eat while lowering the stresses of a busy life.  And presidents live in a pressure cooker, so the need for a favorite food can go a long way to reducing some of that massive stress.

Wouldn’t you like to know those favorite foods of our presidents?  You may be surprised, or shake your head at some of them, but there are some easy to see revelations into their personalities too.

Some of these favorites have become so well known that it’s become part of their identity. Think Ronald Reagan and his jellybeans.

One president has received credit for the creation of one of America’s all time go to comfort foods.  Thomas Jefferson spent years in France while representing our country.  He loved French foods and wines.  Once back home, he took some culinary ideas from his experiences and created what we now call Mac & Cheese!

Just thinking about a warm side of Mac & Cheese makes me hungry!

George H. W. Bush was more famous for a food he hated, than for his actual favorite.  He loved his pork rinds but very publicly hated broccoli.

Naturally, there is some regional appeal for certain foods, depending on where the man grew up. No surprise that John F. Kennedy loved New England clam chowder, or that Jimmy Carter loves grits.

Some presidents have used food as an insult while engaging in political bullying.  In 1897, Theodore Roosevelt was serving in the William McKinley administration as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.  Roosevelt was a vocal advocate of naval preparedness, most immediately for a possible war with Spain.  Mr. McKinley, a Civil War veteran, was slow to push for war.  Roosevelt famously insulted him by saying “he has no more backbone than a chocolate éclair”.  4 years later, after gaining fame in the Spanish-American War for his charge up San Juan Hill, Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency following McKinley’s assassination in Buffalo New York.

Some president’s favorites are from the sweet tooth category. Dwight Eisenhower loved fudge, James Madison preferred ice cream, and Zachary Taylor loved beignets.

Others would be considered odd by today’s standards. For example, William Henry Harrison and James Garfield both liked squirrel as a stew or soup.  Andrew Jackson loved “leather britches”, a regional name for green beans and bacon.

The idea of comfort food in more modern times may be best illustrated by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s love of grilled cheese sandwiches or Barack Obama’s preference for nachos.   FDR went further by serving hot dogs to the King of England during a state visit to Hyde Park. The president who gets the prize for most nutritious favorite is John Quincy Adams who loved fresh fruits.  And for the weirdest favorite, I must award that distinction to Richard Nixon for his cottage cheese and ketchup habit.

Finally, we cannot complete our presidential food journey without mentioning William Howard Taft. It seems we all know that Big Bill was our largest president, tipping the scale at 330 pounds during his presidency.  So, a natural question becomes: what was his go to comfort food?  He loved steak and potatoes and ate heartily.  For him, unhappy as president, eating was his way to off load stress. After his term ended, he shed over 80 pounds, serving later as Supreme Court Chief Justice in a trimmer form.

What about our current president?  Joe Biden’s favorite is pasta with red sauce, specifically angel hair pomodoro.

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.

The style and form of presidential travel has been discussed and debated since the nation’s founding in 1789.  George Washington was very attuned to the visual impact of the well-appointed carriage he used to get from place to place in the late 18^th century. The last half of the 19^th century saw upscale private railroad cars as the primary mode of transport for the president.

But Air Force One, the president’s private jet, took the concept of presidential travel to astounding new heights.

Let’s examine the evolution of presidential flying over the past eight decades.

The Early Years

The first president to fly while in office was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who undertook an arduous 44 hour journey to Casablanca on a military flying boat in 1943 to meet with Winston Churchill during World War II. He couldn’t travel by ship due to the risk of German submarine attack.

His successor, Harry Truman, also used a military plane, a Douglas C-54 dubbed the Sacred Cow.  Truman had a bit of prankster in him. He once took off from Washington and directed the pilot to fly over the White House.  They buzzed the home at 500 feet going 500 miles per hour!  And they made two passes!   Hard to imagine that happening today.

Later, in 1947, Truman used a faster plane he called Independence, named after his hometown in Missouri.

Dwight Eisenhower, a trained pilot himself, upgraded to a Lockheed Constellation called Columbine II, named for the state flower of Colorado where First Lady Mamie Eisenhower grew up. Ike was on Columbine II in 1954 when a potential disaster was averted.  When Eisenhower flew, the military used regular flight identification protocols. His flight was Air Force 8610.  At that same moment, another plane in the area was using Eastern 8610. The confusion could have ended in disaster.  After that flight, it was decided that anytime the president is on a flight, the call number would be Air Force One.

The Jet Age

In 1959, toward the end of Eisenhower’s second term, the Air Force acquired a Boeing 707, the first jet used in presidential travel.  It was painted with orange and black accent colors, with block letters for The United States of America.

In 1962, under new president John F. Kennedy, the first jet specifically built for the president was delivered. Kennedy was well aware of the profound impact this symbol of American power and diplomacy would have. He selected famed designer Raymond Loewy to create the now-famous blue and white livery with the presidential seal on the Boeing 707. Kennedy also specified the use of the same font scheme found in the Constitution for the words The United States of America.

The jet was used from 1962 to 1990 by presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.  Johnson was sworn into office aboard the plane following Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in 1963. Nixon flew it to Beijing in 1972 to open up diplomatic relations with China.

The plane is now on indoor display at the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in California. It’s back up twin is at Wright Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

747s and the Modern Age

In 1990 during the administration of George H. W. Bush, two new Boeing 747s replaced the aging 707s. These highly customized planes have offices, a bedroom and shower for the president, conference room, medical center, two galleys capable of serving 100, advanced communications capability, mid-air refueling, plus the ability to withstand an electromagnetic pulse.

The plane travels at 600 mph and costs about $200,000 per hour to fly.  It’s painted in the same classic blue and white livery started by JFK. Unlike the 1997 Harrison Ford movie Air Force One, the real plane does not have an escape pod.

The 4,000 square foot Air Force One is truly a “flying White House” allowing the president to fully function from the sky anywhere in the world.  For nine hours on September 11, 2001, Air Force One was George W. Bush’s flying White House in an emergency due to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Preserving History

The planes used by the president have historic value and several are on display at the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.  The Columbine II used by Eisenhower fell into a bureaucratic snafu after its service. For decades it sat rusting away in the Arizona desert, unidentified as Columbine II. The CEO of an aircraft restoration company finally figured out the plane’s true identity and spent 8,000 hours getting it ready to fly from Arizona to Virginia for complete refurbishment. That work is ongoing, with an estimated $12 million budget to complete the restoration. It’s hoped that Columbine II will one day be on display for all to see.

The Future

Two new 747s were ordered in 2016 to replace the now-aging pair of current 747 planes.  Donald Trump gave permission to acquire the new planes from a defunct Russian airline that went bankrupt before ever taking possession of the planes.  Since then, the planes have been undergoing extensive modifications to turn them into 21^st century Air Force Ones. Due to supply chain issues, security clearance requirements for workers and other issues, the planes are very late and way over the fixed cost $3.9 billion budget set by Trump. The delivery date is unknown but may stretch to 2029.

Air Force One, hand polished before every trip, is a gleaming symbol of American power and promise wherever it flies.  If you’re ever near Dayton, Ohio or Simi Valley in California, you can step up the ramp and get a glimpse of history.

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.

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 46^th, 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.

Consider the lowly penny. Tossed into piggy banks and lost in sofas, the penny doesn’t get much respect today. But over 100 years ago, one president decided to make history with the penny, and started a trend that continues today.

To get to the heart of the story, we must go back to 1865.

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Theodore Roosevelt was seven years old, living in his hometown of New York City.  The nation was shocked at Lincoln’s death, and his funeral extended over 13 days with a train carrying his casket to many cities so the populace could pay their respects.  New York was one of those cities, and the cortege passed Roosevelt’s home.  As documented by a photo taken that day, young Theodore watched from an upstairs window.

Thereafter, Lincoln was Theodore’s favorite president, held in high esteem for his leadership during our nation’s worst crisis.

Theodore (who hated the name Teddy) also became president following an assassination, that of William McKinley in 1901.  Theodore was an assertive president, forever changing the office and firmly putting the Executive Branch into a preeminent place in our government.

Once he secured election to the office in his own right in 1904, he began searching for ways to honor Lincoln.  Up to that time in our nation’s history, coins were minted with eagles, images of a female ‘Liberty’, Indians, Grecian Gods, and pastoral scenes.   No coin had ever borne the image of a president.

Roosevelt saw his opening. He insisted that a new penny be minted with the head of Lincoln on one side. He commissioned an artist he had patronized in New York, Victor David Brenner, to design it.  He pushed it through all the approvals, and the first Lincoln penny was struck in 1909 in time to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Victor David Brenner was determined to ‘sign’ his work, insisting that his initials, VDB, appear on the back of the penny.  People immediately noticed the large initials, and within a short time, the Secretary of the Treasury demanded the end of the production run. Over 28 million pennies had been produced.  After much debate, the artist’s issue was resolved in 1919, with his initials appearing in nearly microscopic font below the bevel of the Lincoln bust and left of center. Every penny since then has borne his initials.

Not surprisingly, Roosevelt’s decision to honor Lincoln on the penny led to many other presidential coins: the Washington Quarter in 1932, Jefferson Nickel in 1938, Franklin Roosevelt Dime in 1946, (appropriate since FDR led the March of Dimes campaigns as he was a polio victim), Kennedy Half Dollar in 1964, and the Eisenhower Dollar in 1971.

The government has minted hundreds of billions of Lincoln pennies over the past 111 years. It now costs more than a cent to mint a penny. And, due to inflation and use of credit cards, some are calling for an end to the mighty penny.

If and when that happens, we may see Lincoln appear again on a future coin. Maybe try dollar coins again?  If they use the Victor David Brenner design, I wonder if his initials will still be used?

And, what about paper currency, you ask?

The 1913 passage of the Federal Reserve Act also included an overhaul of our paper currency.  Lincoln appeared on the $5 bill the next year.  Fittingly, George Washington was first to appear on our currency, in 1869.

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.

Could it be true that a tiff between two wives likely saved Ulysses S. Grant’s life?

Julia Grant, Ulysses’ wife, and Mary Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s wife, had little respect for each other due to snubs and harsh words in the past. Just the month before, Mary coldly received Julia at a social call in Virgina and was appalled that Julia did not back out of the room and treat her like royalty.  On another day, the jealous Mary sniped at Julia saying, “I suppose you think you’ll get to the White House yourself, don’t you?”

So when the Lincolns invited the Grants to watch a show at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, just a few days after Appomattox and the end of the Civil War, the Grants politely declined, explaining that they were set to travel out of town that  evening. No way Julia wanted to endure more time with Mary Lincoln.

Little did Grant know about John Wilkes Booth and his cabal of assassins. They had been plotting simultaneous attacks on Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward, to culminate that very night. While Booth attacked Lincoln at the theater, Lewis Powell would attack Seward, and David Atzerodt would kill Johnson.

In those days, the press regularly publicized the appearances of presidents in advance—handbills had already been printed announcing that the Lincolns and Grants were expected to attend the theater that night. With Grant at Ford’s Theater as well, Booth realized he could kill the two most visible and powerful men in the country at the same time.

The stage was set—until the Grants backed out. Their decision to decline the invitation also became public knowledge, however, and that night, as Grant’s carriage–loaded with luggage and with his family with him—moved down Pennsylvania Avenue toward Union Station, a dark rider on horseback chased them down. The rider glared at the General and rode off, only to return a few minutes later and repeat the threatening behavior.

The rider was John Wilkes Booth, exasperated and angry of losing his chance at Grant.

Meanwhile, the Lincolns still wanted company at the theater, so they invited Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara to join them for the play. A policeman, John Parker, was posted outside the door of Lincoln’s box to protect the President, but he wandered away to the saloon next door. Booth had free entry and shot Lincoln in the back of the head at close range.

Lincoln was carried across the street to a small residence, where he died of his wounds in a few hours.

After shooting Lincoln and leaping to the theater stage, Booth escaped into Virginia and was tracked for several days by 10,000 troops, detectives, and police. He was eventually caught and killed. Lewis Powell viciously attacked Secretary of State Seward with a knife. David Atzerodt lost his nerve and never approached Vice President Johnson.

Fortunately, Seward survived, although he was scarred for life on his face and neck. The surviving cabal was quickly found guilty and all hanged together on July 7, 1865 at Fort McNair in Washington DC.

In a surprising twist to this shocking, murderous plot, John Wilkes Booth’s father, Junius, had threatened to assassinate President Andrew Jackson 30 years earlier. Booth’s father wrote a letter to Jackson in 1835 saying he intended to “cut your throat whilst you are sleeping”. Jackson ignored the threat, and nothing ever came of it.

Did young John Wilkes learn his malevolent hatred from kitchen table talk with his father? We’ll never know.

What we do know is that Julia and Ulysses Grant’s decision to opt out of the theater engagement likely saved his life, allowing him to go on and become president four years later and serve two full terms in the highest office.

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.