Gary Silversmith Sequoia Presidential Yacht

USS Sequoia * Presidenti al Yacht * INFORMATION Sequoia with a beam of 18' 2" and a hull made of 91 tons long-leaf yellow pine 104 ft. 1400 gallons 2 large Detroit diesel engines diesel fuel HISTORY Its former owner, William Dunning an oil executive of Sequoia Oil (hence her name) fell om hard times during the Depression and sold her to the Commerce Department in 1931 for $42,500 The Presidential Yacht Sequoia served eight U.S. presidents: Herbert Hoover Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Dwight Eisenhower John Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Jimmy Carter Sequoia began its presidential service during the Great Depression, before air conditioning, when the commander in chief took to the water for relief from the oppressive political and summer heat of Washington She was used to capture bootleggers during Prohibition. Rum-runners would see the Sequoia as a rich-man's vessel and would come along side her thinking they had found some thirsty customers, only to be greeted with federal agents who would arrest them and charge them with violating Prohibition Seqouia was first used by President Herbert Hoover in 1931 An elevator was installed to allow Franklin Roosevelt travel between the Presidential Stateroom and the Main Salon without assistance The ship was auctioned off by President Carter in 1977 to a private buyer for $270,000 In November 200oo Washington lawvyer and presidential memorabilia collector Gary Silversmith bought the Sequoia for U.S. $1.9 million and moved it back to the nation's capital, where it is now available to the public for charter at U.S. $10,000 a cruise. Important Milestones that Happened in the Sequoia It was used during the Harding administration to enforce Prohibition LBJ lobbied for civil rights legislation and planned Vietnam War strategy FDR and Eisenhower Nixon negotiated the first arms control treaty with the Soviet Union planned D-day Truman decided to drop the bomb on Nixon decided to resign after the Watergate scandal Hiroshima and later conducted the • world's first nuclear arms control- summit- Interesting Facts from Presidents who Used the yacht LBJ complained that the doorknob & shower was too small. So the small doorknob was replaced with a large, Texas-style knob and the shower floor was lowered three inches John F. Kennedy opened his last birthday gifts in the ship's main salon Roosevelt planned legislation to take the country out of the Depression Once, harry Truman got so frustrated with his poker game on one occasion that he smashed the yacht's dining room table with a cigar cutter Nixon always wore a tie, coat, and shoes on the yacht and never took them off while on the ship A chair lift was installed on the vessel so that stewards would not have to lift FDR from one level to the next, a practice that the president despised litp://garujallyersmitn.com/aboutEm mp://www.sequotagacht.com/history.htm hp://bibowen.hubpoges.com/mb/uss-sequota up://newsnatierialgeogruphic.com/news/2001/01/0119sequola.itmi hup://www.umngtonpostcom/connie-lawn/uss-sequota-crutses-to-wa_b_3978921.tmi http://www.seamlept.com/national/nnicie/Potomac-Wateti-owner-of-er-prestdential-yacht-1160647.php garysilversmith.blogspot.com