future presidents, current presidents or presidents using as their escape and, you know, these days, more than ever, it should be apparent what a pressure packed job. the presidency is with events happening at breakneck speed. but even when you go back to the 1700s, in the 1800s, this was considered a very valuable for in power to visit and to sort of unwind a little bit. now you may wonder whether we had anything provided for in terms of presidential retreat is there anything in the constitution that says there should be a place where a president can go and in fact, there was not?

and the first president that really felt the need to a place to unwind was fdr, ah, and it should come as no surprise that this basically became evident to him as world war two took on more and more of his time now fdr had some escapes already when he took office. he had a presidential yacht, the uss potomac. he also had his estate in hyde, new york. and he also at that time had already discovered and, was a regular visitor to springs, georgia which he feltelped his paralysis, but he needed a retreat closer to washington. and as the tension surrounding

war two increased, he felt that need even more. in tensely and he contact the national park director newton drury at the time and drury's assistant connor said werth and said, please to look around and find out if there's some federal land that i can use. a presidential retreat. next slide, please. or let's see. okay. and they actually found camp number three, high cut and had been used as a summer camp for federal employees and boy scout troops. so it was owned by the federal and it was just within an hour's drive of washington in d.c. it also being used as a training

ground for the forerunner, the uss, which was the forerunner of the cia. so they were using this federal property to train the spies as we entered the war. well, fdr visited for the first time on april second, 1942, and apparently he fell in love with it immediately and actually said to it it's shangri-la. and within eight days it was approved as the new presidential retreat and it was given the name by fdr. so he and fdr really used it as his escape and he entertained kinds of important people there, certainly military men, and planning the activities surrounding world war two, both

in the atlantic and the pacific theaters, and in fact winston churchill. visit shangri-la. however, it remained a secret. it was not well known to public. that may have been for security reasons, but it was really kept and it was fdr, his escape and during the year 42 and 43, when the outcome of the war was still in doubt, was still uncertain, and fdr made visits to shangri-la for a total of 64 days during world war two. so it really a very important resource for him now, when eisenhower became. in 1953, he also recognized quickly that he needed place where he could have some privacy and he could unwind, escape.

so he embraced shangri-la but he renamed it camp david after his dad and after his grandson eisenhower and it known as david to this day eisenhower like. fdr used it frequently and it was his escape hatch when. the presidency really became a very, very arduous for him. now how did the vineyard get involv in althis? well, actually, john adams was even before the declaration of independence dance and the birth the country, if you will, john adams, had come down from braintree outside of boston, which was his home. and chilmark, to give counsel to a legal counsel to a friend,

jonathan, john adams, some of you may know, in addition, his career as a statesman and obviously vice president and then president was really considered one of the foremost legal minds of the time and in fact, during the boston massacre the british officer who had given the command fire on the colonists when he was taken to trial, john adams agreed to be his defense attorney because adams felt was essential that people have good legal counsel regardless of what you think of their acts. so another testimony to the character of john adams, but john adams, if you will, the first presidential or soon to be president, who realized what a

special place vineyard was. then in. vineyard was sort of kept in the background. it was still a pretty rural area at that time. t in august of 1874, ulysses grant actually took an official vacation at the campground cottage, which all of you know, still exists today. and part of our vineyard tradition. and he was accompanied by wife julia. he arrived at oak bluffs via the steamboat river queen, and he summered at the bishop haven cottage on clinton avenue and clinton avenue, as any you who live in oak bluffs knows still exists. so that cottage area is still very much a part of the martha's vineyard fabric.

and this is a picture of him on the balcony of that cottage. in. didn't go where he wanted. in september 1882, president chester alan arthur actually to the vineyard to go fishing certainly a tradition that is still continued to this day. anyone who's followed the fishing derby that's taken place and he went fishing menemsha and he arrived on the steamer the dispatch and he traveled from vineyard haven. describe knock it in west tisbury and he stayed at the seaview house again in oak bluffs and apparently enjoyed his stay and relaxed here again

about 15 years passed and grover visited martha's vineyard several times on yacht oneida. the yacht oneida has an place in presidential history and that is the yacht oneida was owned by a commodore who was a personal friend of president cleveland. but the yacht oneida is where president cleveland secret service, secret surgery. some of you may be aware that during his term one of his terms in office, there was real controversy whether the u.s. would have a gold or a silver standard to back our paper. well, to make a long story short, president was a long time cigar smoker. he noticed the growth on the hard palate of his mouth had it

examined by a doctor said that really suspicious malignancy it needs to come out well this was in the summer just when congress was getting ready to adjourn but cleveland was scheduled give a major speech supporting the gold standard in august of that year. so any question about his health might which way congress was going to go. so what happened the yacht oneida was brought down on the east river of new york city behind bellevue hospital. president and his coterie of close physician friends got on the yacht. oneida and in secrecy going up the east river and along long island sound, he had this growth removed from his mouth and the

destination was gray gables on cape cod, which was the summer white house. now, if you're a surgeon operating on the president of the united states on a yacht online and sound secret, what is your worst nightmare? i'll tell you as a surgeon what your worst nightmare would be. and that is the pathology comes back a positive margin. so you now have take the president of the united back for second secret operation on the yacht oneida they take them off a gray gables and operate again in. this time the margin came back. cleveland lived out his term he gave the speech supporting the gold standard that august

congress stayed with the gold standard and he retired to princeton new jersey where he was a trustee of the university until he died. the 1900s of cardio vascular issues, not of any malignancy but that yacht oneida has a very important piece of history. and it was here on the vineyard, if you will, and literally was the way that the gold standard was preserved by this secret operation which took place on the oneida, now calvin coolidge, it out was really, if you will, a martha's vineyard frequent. he apparently loved the vineyard. he visited vineyard when he was of the massachusetts senate when he was a lieutenant governor, when he was governor of massachusetts when was vice president and when his past president. he actually didn't when he was president for. unclear reasons, but he here

apparently to nine times during his he governor mccall actually presented shield of honor to the town of head down known as akina and in 1919 he spoke at the tabernacle, which, as all of you know, is still in existence in oak bluffs during governors day, he enjoyed the famous quahog fritters and coolidge gave a short speech because he was known for his laconic nature. a little anecdote. coolidge was once he was supposed to give a speech at a meeting of the daughters of the american revolution and one of the officers of the dar came up to him and said, mr. president, i told my friends that i was i could make you say at least three words to me and coolidge

apparently looked at her without, blinking an eye and said, you lose so as as vice president, he visited william butler, who was a wealthy landowner at that time on lambert's cove estate and he met charles van de hoop, who served as the keeper of the gay head lighthouse, which is still existence. so now we come to franklin roosevelt,. july of 1932, and remember now had not yet been. that would happen in november of that year. so he was still. running for office and. he visited curry, hung onboard the roosevelt y'all the myth too and arrived from stonington, connecticut he himself had been the wheel. he was an avid sailor and

outdoorsman and at one point in his career was the secretary of the navy appropriate, given his love of the sea? however, his love of the sea. we'll get to in a minute have proven his. but in june 1933 at this time he's a president and he spent the night at the inn edgartown harbor due to a squall on his way to nantucket. his yacht dropped anchor there and in august of. 1941 he on yacht potomac he anchored in tarpaulin cove. now the anecdote here i wanted to share with you is that if you look at pictures of fdr, there is a pigmented area over his eyebrow and it's never been firmly established. but that pigmented area is

suspected by many physicians to have been a sign of melanoma. certainly not in consist and with his love of also you follow his career as president that pigmented area disappears suggesting that it may have been surreptitiously removed without much publicity. the other interesting thing about fdr in terms health is that in his third term at the height of war, there was concern that he wasn't as as he had been. it was known he had some cardiac issues. his paralysis. i think as many people understand, although known it was not publicized, you rarely can find a picture of fdr using crutches. there was sort of a an agreement with the press that he wouldn't

be photographed that way. but fdr are at the behest of some of the power brokers, the democratic party was examined by dr. leahy, frankly, he is the physician, founded the leahy clinic and was one of the preeminent and most famous surgeons of that era. there's document taken to show that leahy was quite concerned about the overall vigor of fdr, and he dictated a memo which he gave to his personal secretary. and in that memo, he shares his concern that fdr will not live his second term, his fourth term. this in late june of 1944. and in the memo, frank leahy says that he told the democratic

in washington that you should be very careful who you pick as his running mate, because i have real concerns that he may live another four years. well, you may remember the vice president in fdr, his third term was wallace who was considered a little bit liberal, a little bit too left by. many of the democratic power brokers. and in fact, what he was replaced by this relatively unknown and senator from missouri, harry truman. it's obviously one of the what ifs of history. what if wallace not truman had been president after roosevelt died. would there have been a hiroshima? would the war have ended the way it did end? you can speculate, but memo does

exist and has been proven to be authentic. and in fact, again, you can intertwine his love of sailing and his love of the outdoors with his love of the vineyard. now, more recently, people are very aware of john rfk. they are a native. native, if you will, who spent much his youth on cape cod, the vineyard, and was very much a a son of massachusetts, if you will, although, as child he spent lots of time in the family in hyannis, the first known instance that he interacted the with the vineyard was in july of 1941, when he a sailing mishap

on vineyard sound and he and his friend mcdonald actually had to spend the night at the ocean hotel in oak bluffs. he returned in 1945, and at that point he stayed at what would become the hobnob inn? many of you, i'm sure, are familiar on the main street of edgartown in august the 1961. now president, he sailed over from port on board the the marlin, which their sailboat picked up friends on chappy. and in july 62 he and jackie and caroline came over on a sailboat. the patrick j and actually spent time at the town yacht club right downtown at edgewood town. and in september of first of 1963, just literally less than

three months before assassination, he visited edgartown harbor again on board the honey fitz named his grandfather. and in 1978, jack when kennedy onassis purchased, a 375 acres of her state in gay head. so the the interaction with the vineyard continues and then in september 1980, former president nixon with his friend bebe raposo, actually spent time in georgetown harbor and visited the property of walter cronkite, who a house overlooking the harbor. now, in recent times, it's known that both bill clinton, barack obama loved the vineyard and spent summer vacations. it was really the presidential

retreat, much more so than than camp david would be able to claim. and clinton visited. vineyard for the first time in august of 93. he actually did working vacation and went over crime legislation and and health care reform. you that was going to be his big impetus to get universal health care passed that was a lot of planning happened right here on the vineyard he returned in october of 1995 for the three day wedding celebration and for ted danson, dead. ted danson and, mary steenburgen and he gave his weekly radio address from the old whaling church in newtown in august of 97. it is claimed our president

clinton claimed that he broke 80 farms, neck golf with all due respect to the president, he does have a reputation of taking more than a few mulligans. when he was golfing. we don't know how legitimate that score of breaking 80 was, but nonetheless, he claimed that was the best he had ever. he was here in august of 98 and had to interrupt his vacation after terrorist attacks in afghanistan in the sudan and the clintons returned to martha's vineyard after his in 2001, and he returned again in august of 2000 to to celebrate his 56th birthday. and here he is, a singing with carly simon. there's a, you know, a sort of

toheek joke about president clinton. he apparently was ait a nightmare for the secret service because he very much wanted to be out among theple. there's an old saying that clinton never met, a hand he didn't want to shake. so he would routinely through vineyard haven and walk through edgartown and go to the bookstores and shake as many hands as he could he was obviously a very gregarious guy and this is the the place where they stayed and he was introduced to the vineyard a missing a slide here. let me just oh yeah this is the

presidential muffin and have the originator of the presidential muffin. it's our honor that she's in the audience carole mcmanus owned and was the founder of the coffee shop and she would leave out a muffin every morning for president clinton and then finally he came by and said i want to meet the lady who's been making muffins for me and met carol in her coffee shop. and you will notice it's a red, white and blue muffin in of the presidency so that's another piece local history and we're honored to have carol here today but i want to go a bit to the

obamas because the obamas were introduced the vineyard, if you remember the speech that really gave obama the notoriety and it was his 2004 address at the democratic in boston. and apparently that was very stressful. and his good friend and his finance, valerie jarrett, who was a frequent visitor to the vineyard at that time, to him, barack, you really need to go to the vineyard and that will let you for a few days and. that's when he and his family really embraced the vineyard and said, this is a special place and it was after that that they began to frequent the old whaling church and they knew people. charles ogletree from harvard school and henry louis gates, who were frequent visitors to the vineyard and, really it

became part of their family fabric, if you will. and this is just a list of the the various times that obama visited the vineyard during his presidency in fact, the only year he didn't the vineyard was in 2012. the reelection year. he was too busy obviously that time. but this is to acknowledge carol mcmanus, the owner of expresso and the muffins. she out the note save for bill however there are other culinary links to the president's sharky's cantina. if you remember the mexican restaurant, they actually had a margarita that they called the obama rita and then made martha's ice cream developed a flavor barack my world. so the presidents have had an influence on the local in their

we go with the muffin and here are the two presidents golfing again who had the lower score is top secret information that's unknown but they both enjoyed golfing here in measurably quite frankly. a very serious note, though, you know, in light of recent events, we know that the two potential assassin asian attempts on president trump or past president who also an avid golfer it brings into view how it is for the secret service to provide good on a golf course. you you're looking at acres acres of real estate to cover you're looking at plenty of places you know foliage and and so forth that can serve as a cover for somebody who has a

mean spirited intent. so this is something, frankly, is a president's and other notable leaders come to the vineyard golf there. i think the secret service is really going to have to come up with a plan of how do you monitor 18 holes of a golf course of presidents and in their and this was a picture a famous picture barack obama in fi term with his two daughtd tow as a president, you're never given the day off this picture. it appeared obama criticized behis ughters were wearing helmets. he was not. so he got a lot of flak for riding a bike without a helmet. and that concludes history of

presidential. both power pleasure while they were here, both obama and clinton are reviewed and were very much involved in preparing to enact legislation to submit to congress. however, the fact that they came back times and after presidency i think speaks to what a special place the vineyard is. so with that, i'm happy to open the floor up to any questions and to speak more about presidential health. so. no question. sure, it's not about the president. it's about the vice president. he's running for president. yeah.

as she's been out to the vineyard a bunch of times to do you anything about that or could you us any kind of background of why she's visiting. i don't. but you know, it's well known that the the tradition the african-american link to vineyard is quite it's gone on for decade, decade after decade. it might be part of of that of the tabernacle. there is still, you know, annual, not annual, but weekly religious events. but i don't know her direct link where she stayed. i would not be surprised she becomes president that. the vineyard is a very logical and, convenient place for her to unwind, but that's as much as i know about her. her relationship to the vineyard. yes. maia has a place in catena. okay.

that's that's the answer. if you didn't hear, her sister maya has a place. catania. so she very well may have stayed with her sister. yes, sir. if i can just talk a little bit about the security challenges, the entourage goes here like we all think that it's easy to secure because it's an island but it's quite the event when the president. yeah well again you know there's a practical concern obviously you want to keep the president's and give them and their family some area to relax. i did anticipate a question like so i looked it up on the net and there is documentation that one of obama's visits the cost for transportation and housing and all involving secret service amounted.

$2.7 million to the taxpayer. so it's not inexpensive. on the other hand, you're dealing with, you know, arguably the most person in the world and you want them, one, to be able to unwind, relax a little bit. and you also most certainly want them to be safe the last thing anyone want would be another attempted assassination on anybody. so i think that if the martha's vineyard area continues to be the special place for presidents, pleasure and power, so to speak i think we will have to recognize that there's a price to be paid. again, many vineyard residents have some ambivalence about visits. you know, they on the one hand, they the fact that a president sees fit to visit the island

some people though object that it brings crowds notoriety that they their privacy more than that obviously when presidents are playing golf as part of security. the golf club is shut down for a number of hours before after which can be an inconvenience to some people. same with restaurants. and again, clinton was notorious. you know, he loved to go to a bookstore and he loved to press the flesh. but when he did that, it was a real tour de force both for the secret service to keep safe, but also people who have their daily, you know, routine of shopping in. one of the downtown areas interrupted so there's there's this tug and pull. there's no doubt about it.

this man. have you had any personal experience with the obamas or the clintons. have i had any personal experience the obamas? i have not. other than i saw the motorcade. going to one of the golf clubs when obama was here. but i've i've not had any personal interaction with with any press or any of their staff. no. president clinton shook my mother's from there. well, apropos he never met a hand. he didn't want to shake this. lady, is my wife. and she was in jaws. and jaws on the presidents weren't there. oh, well where are they going now? well, obamas bought a house here, so they still come here regularly. it's on the market. no. oh, that. that i hadn't heard.

and i'm not aware where the vacation again i think a lot of post presidents really their privacy that they're finally somewhat out of the public eye and i'm sure as much as they value their families value it even more i mean michelle obama i think was counting the minutes until she could leave the white house. so they still may be coming here regularly. but, you know, very quietly. and that's understandable. but i think one of the greatest parts about vineyard is the difference in they're not presidents or anything but different celebrities. it seems like they're able just do their thing without people bothering or i mean, that's been

my experience coming here. but i would agree, i think people on the vineyard are pretty key and, you know, even, you know, the series that are held every summer you have some very celebrated authors and they're not mobbed. they're they're given their space. so that i think that there is that other special quality the vineyard that that people do not overreact to celebrity and. it's a place where people can. unwind a little bit actually reminds me when you asked if i ever met a celebrity the only celebrity that i didn't meet personally i was in the same room was vernon jordan when i was part of when clinton was president. and he apparently would come regularly to meet with bill clinton because. he was one of clinton's

confidantes and would be sort of the cabinet. and again, nobody, you know, jumped all over vernon jordan. he was given his space. and i remember seeing him at a restaurant and he had a a peaceful dinner. nobody was running up to him and interrupting him. fortunately. so well again, thank you so much for your attention and for coming tonight. let's all go out and enjoy this very special island at a very special time of the year. i don't know about the rest of you, but this time of the year is actually my favorite time on the vineyard. the autumn when it's less crowded and when the leaves are turning. so enjoy the evening and again, thank you so much for your attention.

tonight's lecture will paint a vivid portrait of andre michaux, one of the most accomplished scientific explorers of north america. before thomas jefferson set lewis and clark off their famous expedition, moscow's work took him from bahamas to the hudson bay and it's likely that no other had seen so much of this continent at the time. but there's more to the story. during his decade long in america, he found himself the center of a vast internet national conspiracy and as the story winds on an unexpected figure emerges at the center of the plot. one very well known to all of us here in virginia, and that is thomas jefferson joining us this evening to unpack this conspiracy is patrick spero until patrick served as the

library man and director of the american philosophical society library, one of the oldest, one of the very oldest history organizations, our nation. and in beginning this january, official, he will take on the reins this august organization as its new ceo. patrick is a scholar of early american history and the author of several articles and four books, including frontier country, the politics, war and early pennsylvania frontier rebels, the fight for, independence in the american west and other presidency. thomas jefferson and the american philosophical society. and most recently, the work will be the form will form the the bulk of his talk this evening the scientist turned spy andre michaux thomas jefferson and the conspiracy of 1793. i very much appreciate you all taking the time to be here this evening for your wonderful support of this st