"IN HEAVY WIND & CHOPPY SEAS"

COOLIDGE ENJOYS LONG CRUISE DOWN THE POTOMAC

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 30, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge returned to The White House after a "refreshing" cruise on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay aboard the Mayflower*.

The Evening Star reports the trip as having been "in heavy wind and choppy seas," but the Mayflower sailed "nearly" as far as Newport.

The Star states...

"The vessel anchored in the Potomac...last night and came up to the Navy Yard shortly before 8 o'clock.  This is one of the longest cruises the President has made...in many months."

*USS Mayflower (1896-1955) served Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding & Coolidge.  USSM was originally built as a private yacht.

SOURCE

"President Back Home From Long Bay Trip," The Evening Star, The Evening Star, March 30, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

USS Mayflower

1905

NARA Photo

"RESPITE FROM HEAT & WORK INTERRUPTION"

COOLIDGES ENJOY LEISURELY CRUISE DOWN POTOMAC

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On September 2, 1923, The Sunday Star reports President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, along with several close friends, "arrived back at the White House shortly before 9 o'clock last night...after a leisurely cruise down the Potomac on the presidential yacht Mayflower*."

The Presidential party left Washington just after one in the afternoon and "gained a short respite from the heat...and from interruption to (the President's) work while at the White House."

*USS Mayflower (PY1) served 5 U.S. Presidents:  TR, Taft, Wilson, Harding & Coolidge.  

SOURCE

"President Takes Short River Trip On Mayflower," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., September 2, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

USS Mayflower

1912

National Museum of US Navy

"GREAT BLUE FLAG WITH FOUR WHITE STARS"

FLAG THAT WAVED FROM THE MAYFLOWER WILL WAVE BEFORE PRESIDENT HARDING'S HEARSE 

Marion, Ohio (JFK+50) On August 10, 1923, The Evening Star reports "a great blue flag with four white stars that waved...from the masthead" of the presidential yacht Mayflower* "...will wave...before the hearse that carries (President Warren G. Harding) today to his tomb."

The flag, knit with heavy material suitable for sea duty, will be carried through the streets of Marion by Howard F. Carlson, chief radio operator of the Mayflower.

JFK+50 NOTE

Three famous Americans attended the funeral of President Harding in Marion, Ohio on August 10, 1923.  They were Henry Firestone, Thomas Alva Edison and Henry Ford.  The trio had been camping buddies of the President just two years earlier.

Other notables who attended included President Calvin Coolidge, former POTUS William Howard Taft, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and General John J. Pershing.

*USS Mayflower, launched in 1896, served the US Navy in the Spanish-American War, WWI & WWII.  She also was the presidential yacht for TR, Taft, Wilson, Harding & Coolidge.

SOURCES

"President's Flag From Mayflower To Go to Grave," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., August 10, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"1923; President Warren G. Harding's Funeral," by Nathan Havenner, Ohio Life, July/August 2021, www.ohiomagazine.com/

 

 

U.S.S. Mayflower

1905

NARA Photo