Presidential Travel Essays - Aviation, Aeronautics, Aircraft

Presidential Travel Essays - Aviation, Aeronautics, Aircraft Presidential Travel Through the course of our countrys history many things have changed such as the presidents and their form of transportation. Civilization has broadened the types transportation through the decades. The use of transportation has furthered our countrys ability to communicate with each other and many other countries. The presidents travel started out with an uncomfortable horsedrawn carriage and has escalated to a giant Boeing 747 jumbo jet with all the amenities of the White House. Today the only conflict with the presidents transportation is the price. From President Washington all the way to President McKinley, the president was free to come and go as he pleased because there were no secret service agents. Since the nations poor roads made for long uncomfortable trips, the president hardly ever went on long excursions away from Washington. When George Washington had to make long trips, he rode in a closed carriage, pulled by a team of fast horses, which were exchanged on each leg of the trip. Andrew Jackson was criticized for riding in elegant carriages which made people feel that he was forgetting the American ideals. The use of horses led to the death of William Henry Harrison during his inauguration. He was given a nice stagecoach to ride in, but he chose to ride on his favorite horse. He rode to the capitol in the cold weather and gave a two hour inaugural address and through this, he picked up pneumonia and died. Harrison was also the first president to ride a train, although he never knew it! He was transported to his final burial on the rail! It was not until Howard Tafts administration that money was appointed for presidential transportation. In 1833 the railroad stretched a total of a 135 miles, and Andrew Jackson was the first living president to ride a train. Once Jackson left office there was a total of 1,300 miles of railroad operation. Abraham Lincoln was for the expansion of the railroad. Lincoln had a 42 foot long car but he was reluctant to use it because people thought of him as a humble person. Franklin Roosevelt had a train car named the Magellan which had accommodations for ten. The Magellans biggest asset was its safety. The Magellan had steel roofs, side panels, and the bottom of the car was protected by a metal shield. It was believed that it could withstand small bombs and grenades. The windows to the Magellan were very thick which, in turn, could stop bullets. President Roosevelt spent a lot of time traveling on it, because it could only go 30 miles per hour. He traveled In excess of 60,000 miles. When Truman was president, his train could speed up to 105 miles per hour, but he asked the engineer to slow it to 80 miles per hour. One mode of travel that never became popular was the presidential yachts. Many people were angry to see luxury beyond what they thought should be enjoyed by an American president. There was a fleet of yachts, and none of them were for travel. They were just for rest and relaxation. Jimmy Carter later took the current yacht called the Sequoia and put it on the auction block. During the early 1900s the automobile was starting to be more frequently used but only in large cities. Even though President McKinley had used a horse less carriage, it would still be another 10 years before the White House would have a garage full of presidential cars. It was during William Howard Tafts presidency when a budget was set aside for transportation ($25,000). The first presidential car was a model M touring car and was used for Taft (Siuru-25). The final inauguration for a president riding in a horsedrawn carriage was Woodrow Wilson, and the first in a car was Warren Harding. The first flight by a president occurred in 1943, a year and one month before the U.S. entered World War Two, when Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Casablanca to meet Winston Churchill. It was Roosevelts second flight because he had flown in a plane made by the Wright Brothers which stood in the air for no more then 2 minute (Siuru, 137). The plane which he flew