side-by-side without saying a word to each other. it is best in his inaugural address, hoover politely paid tribute to his predecessor. when the ceremonies at the capital were over, the two men say goodbye, and the ex-president took a train home to new england. entireer: watch the program sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on "the presidency" on american history tv, only on c-span3. announcer: each week, american artifacts takes you to museums and historic places to learn about american history. next, we tour the presidential vehicles collection at the henry ford museum in dearborn, michigan. transportation curator matt anderson shows of cars used by presidents truman, eisenhower, theer, and reagan, and lincoln continental that john f. kennedy was writing and when he

was assassinated. matt: my name is matt anderson. we are inside the henry ford museum of american innovation. just outside our driving america exhibit, we look at the history of the united -- of the automobile in the united states. we are standing in front of the series of presidential limousines which show presidential transportation over the last 117 years or so. behind me is the 1902 carriage used by theodore roosevelt. by the time of roosevelt's administration, it is a common occurrence to see cars moving on public streets. roosevelt, interestingly enough, for all the reputation he has as a forward-looking progressive, really never cared much for automobiles. he wanted to remain in horse-drawn vehicles. i think partly he's out there is a formality involved with horse-drawn transportation appropriate to begin to see -- appropriate to the agency --

appropriate to the dignity of the office. remained in that for his primary transportation when moving around washington, d.c. vehicles like this would have been fairly common, especially in larger cities. we had a vision and our head from western movies that everybody had a carriage, and it was the equivalent of the family car in the 1860's and 1870's. not so much the case. you were most often walking on foot, perhaps bicycling by the 1890's. streetcars were available at that time. in rural areas you probably had a general-purpose carriage, more like a farm wagon or something you could use to take into town are rare you are going. in larger cities you would see these used for personal transportation or taxi services, but certainly for the president,

he would be of a certain station that he would be able to use one of these. next we are going to look at a vehicle that along to another roosevelt, franklin roosevelt, who would be president a few decades later. preferred aelt horse-drawn vehicle throughout administration, which led to his successor howard cast optimizing -- howard taft automating. the lincoln model k is one of the most significant presidential vehicles in that it is the first car specifically modified for presidential use. when i say that, i don't mean armored. nor was it modified to be more luxurious or flashy. instead, it was modified for practical purposes.

the pollster he is thicker than it would be on a standard lincoln because a lot of people -- the upholstery is thicker than it would be on a standard lincoln because a lot of people were getting in and out of it. it has a popular nickname, sunshine special, which comes partially from roosevelt's preference to ride with the top down whenever weather permitted, but also because of roosevelt's sunny optimism throughout the depression and world war ii. he retained an optimistic persona and his public appearances. this car was modified even more after pearl harbor was attacked in 19413. in -- in 1941. in 1942, armor was added to the vehicle. there is bulletproof glass along the side. curiously, though, it is still a convertible, so there is a weak spot in the protection. nevertheless, it is an important turning point in presidential transportation.

we will see some other modifications you wouldn't see on a typical vehicle. it has got some wide running boards, still somewhat common internet to 30's. they were starting to fade away -- common in the 1930's. at the back of the car, there is a lit sign that said "police, do not pass." the president should always be in front of the group. there were also grab handles on the back and along the front and side for secret service agents to hold on to the vehicle, and a couple of platforms on the rear bumper for agents to ride to protect the president and his passengers. presidential motorcade were evolving at the time. they could still be fairly modest affairs. he would be in the car with perhaps a few police cars as exports -- as escorts. then as now, the greatest honor and status symbol would be to be able to ride in the car with the president himself.

particularly important dignitaries or people roosevelt was trying to woo, perhaps because of congress -- perhaps members of congress. star are a couple of cabinets built into the rear of the front seat that can be used to store weapons in the event of an emergency if the secret service needed it to protect the president. several things you would see on a typical car. , red lightshe front so it could be used to get attention and get people out of the way. with that, we can look at another car that came after world war ii and was used by a few of roosevelt's successors. 1950e looking now at a lincoln cosmopolitan used by president harry truman and president john f. kennedy for a short period, but it is most often associated with president dwight d. eisenhower. it did not have this plexiglass

top. that has been credited to eisenhower himself when he saw vehicles like this being used in europe during the war. it is not armored. the war was over. there was no thought of security, or a least it is not thought to be a vital concern. it does provide protection from weather, so in the event of rain or snow the president can have some protection. otherwise, all those panels could be neatly stacked in the trunk, but it doesn't have to be used. that allowed presidents to stand up in the car. there were handrails that would allow eisenhower or truman or kennedy to stand and wait to crowds as they pass by. that triangular piece is a book ld for -- is a bug shie the president standing and waiting to crowds.

this is really a standard lincoln that has been stretched a bit and given a more rigorous upholstery to hold up to the wear and tear of people getting in and out. there are platforms on the back for secret service agents, and some flashing lights, spotlights, sirens. still fairly modest in terms of his appointment. certainly serve the president's verbal -- presidents very well of until the kennedy administration. always onehere was main parade car for the president, and that car certainly would be used whenever he was traveling in some kind of motorcade in washington, d.c. it might be taken with him when he was traveling. this car could have traveled by rail or by airplane at that time. they suck to move towards cargo planes to travel -- to traverse these cars. used a vehiclet , andshed by a local dealer

that was it. these state cars were really used for special purposes or high-profile occasions. presidents wouldn't be driving themselves in their official capacity, not a motorcade, because their point was to be seen. tose cars were always meant provide an opportunity for the public to feel as though they were getting close to the president. however, presidents did enjoy driving around on their own. franklin roosevelt had a ford model a modified that allowed him to drive it with hand controls. he didn't have the use of his legs. president lyndon johnson sometimes had several cars he enjoyed. he had one of those cars that turned into a boat. he loves to drive that into the river on his ranch. presidents certainly did drive for fun, but not in their official capacities.

the presidential vehicle behind me is undoubtedly the most famous presidential vehicle in our collection. arguably the best known presidential limousine of any sort. this is the 1961 lincoln continental is by president kennedy through all of his years in office, and it is in fact the car in which he was riding when he was assassinated in acting to 1963.-- in it looks very different. we think of it as being a deep blue color, and it was a convertible, and it had no armor of any kind. this was a time after world war ii when despite the cold war heating up, we do not think there would be that kind of risk or danger to a president's life. this is also a time when the automobile is in everyday life. eisenhoweresident created the interstate highway system. people are now traveling on summer vacations, or business and work by car.

the family car is very much a force of life. this went -- this lincoln was a perfect fit for president kennedy. will we think about large cars like x and lincolns, we take of those tailfins and the shiny chrome. by 1958 and 1959, perhaps it got a bit excessive beyond the point of good taste. they really were a breath of fresh air. this car is clean, very elegant looking, very formal. the perfect met for president kennedy because we think about him as being very elegant, very modern, very forward-looking as he leads us into the new frontier. it made a perfect match, president kennedy and the vehicle. changedng about the car after november 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated. there had been a roof for the vehicle, even though it was a convertible, but it was one like we saw a really are, the bubble top, acrylic to protect from

weather. it would provide any protection from any kind of weapon. of course, the car was in convertible configuration that day in dallas. after the assassination the car was immediately sent back to the white house, where the fbi and secret service conducted a thorough investigation of the vehicle and documented but they needed to for evidence purposes. after that the car was sent back odifiers to be completely rebuilt as an armored vehicle. people are always astonished to think that this was put back into service. they assume it was destroyed or locked away in a warehouse. the simple fact is, the president needed to have a vehicle, president johnson at the point, there was a time to go back to the drawing board and build something from scratch. the most expeditious thing to do was to rebuild the scar. they stripped it down to its bare frame and rebuilt it with titanium armor plating behind the doors, steel plating underneath the back seat to

protect from landmine or grenades. there is a special filter put into the truck so that if there was a gas attack it would take out the harmful gas to take out the president, and there was this large wraparound rear windscreen, which at the time the largest piece of bulletproof glass which had ever been made. these cars always have this tricky dual mission. they have to protect the president but also make him as visible as possible. it is tough to find the balance between those two things. i notice itar now is black instead of that elegant midnight blue with the government of president kennedy. that was done at the insistence of president johnson. obviously he was in the motorcade in dallas that day. he was always very uncomfortable riding in this car, for obvious reasons. one thing he insisted at the last minute is that the car be painted black. peace out the blue would be too associated with the tragedy in dallas. if we look at it now, we would notice there is a hatch built

into the roof that wasn't originally there. that was put there at the insistence of president nixon, who wanted to be visible. he wanted the president to be able to get outside of this article and -- this armored bubble and waved to crowds. there's this constant strain between the president and his protectors. the president was to be seen. they thrive on that interaction with the public. -- secret service was just service would just as soon have them hermetically sealed. of course, you couldn't, so they had to cover my. with all of that glass, a got very hot in that car. the original air conditioning, which just ran off vents and the front, would be sufficient to keep a car of this size school, so they added a second -- this size cool, so they added a second air conditioning unit. even still, it would get sweltering hot in a car. it was used all the way through 1977 into the carter administration. it was no longer the primary

president for vehicle by the early 1970's, but it might be used if the primary vehicle wasn't available for some reason. it is remarkable to think it was used for that long before it was retired from service and came here. these cars at out this time were not purchased outright by the white house or the secret service. fitted to have the budget at that time to be buying expensive vehicles like this. they were instead leased to the white house by lincoln for a nominal sum each year. lincoln thought it was worth it because they got tremendous publicity out of it, and it was a good deal for the white house because they would not have used your medicine of the money. it would have -- tremendous amounts of money. at a certain point, they just get to dated. 1961scarlet very modern in , but was decidedly -- this car looked very modern in 1961, but was decidedly out of fashion in the 1970's.

looking now in the last of our series of presidential vehicles, this is a 1972 lincoln continental built for president next and used by every subsequent president up until george h.w. bush. this car represents the final step in the evolution of presidential transportation. we've done all the way from that carriage which belongs to teddy roosevelt, up through the sunshine special and john f. kennedy's like it -- kennedy's ,incoln as transitional cars whereas this is a car built from the ground up as an armored vehicle, design from the get go to provide maximum protection to the president. you have a plating behind the doors, bulletproof glass, runflat tires reinforced with steel inside so is the tired

auction -- the tire gets punctured it can still drive to safety. it is most often associated with resident reagan. he, of course, was shot in 1981. -- thoughd, so it was it was more dangerous than we thought perhaps at the time. it is almost ironic. as the president was getting into the car or being pushed into the car and he was actually it not by a direct bullet, but i believe that ricocheted off of one of the armor panels on the car. it was just a perfect shot. the ricochet went through the gap of the door and the body. had things moved a fraction of an inch one way or the other, he made out of been hit at all. he was pushed into the car and then sped off to the hospital and was able to make a recovery. the car continued to be used.

any damage the car would have received would have been minor. ,hey did live very rough lives being bumped and pushed around in airplanes all the time, strapped down, banged up, scratched. there are also getting hit by paint, rocks by protesters. it is part of the american way of life. we are 32 feet -- we are free to speak our minds in protest, and these cars would have been on the front line. they had a garage located near the white house where they can paint them, watch them, change their oil, all those things to keep them in top condition. even with that, the cars did simply age after a certain point. they fell out of fashion and akin to dated. if you look at -- and became to dated. they changed the front end to try and make it look a little more current. whenever they want, they would try to do that to make these cars look fresh. some of these cars are associated not just with the president's, but with the

passengers they carried. really almost any world leader in dignitary you can think of from the middle part of the 20th century would have written in one of these cars. we think of roosevelt sunshine special. he certainly had winston churchill riding in that several times. with a good president eisenhower with charles de gaulle. queen elizabeth wrote in that car, as well. any number of dignitaries would have been in these cars, too. being in a presidential car is a real perk and a real point of pride for folks. anyone from perhaps a big-city mayor to someone in the congress who the president is trying to woo may get a ride, just as air force one is treated as a perk today, something the president uses as a tool to influence. most recent car we have in our collection, even though it is several decades

old. reallyt is the cars aren't going to museums much anymore. part of that is because they're not just building one primary car, but several copies of the primary car, so there are more of them out there. and partly come of these cars are really destroyed at the end of the service life. that is partly to keep the technology from falling into the wrong hands, but also to keep the effectiveness of the armor against different and more modern weapons. it is rare to see them in museums anymore. we may not get anymore, either. we got these vehicles from the lincoln motor company, leased to the white house. with the lease expired and the cars begin to dated, lincoln took the cars back and turned around and gave them to us. now the cars are provided by cadillac and purchased outright by the white house. they remain property of the government to do with as they see fit.

visitors always have a lot of questions about these cars. the question they ask all the time about the kennedy car is, of course, is this really the car in which the president was assassinated? it is just hard to believe it would have been put back in service and used for several more years, but it is. it was simply a matter of time. the needed a car for the president, and it was faster to rebuild that one that to start from scratch. ,hey ask about the reagan car what looks like a spoiler on the back. that is actually a handrail for secret service agents. the bumper full down to make a foot platform, that lists up from the truck to make a handrail for them to hold onto when they are writing with the president and a parade. i think some people are surprised by the technology in the cars. they assume there must be rocket launchers hidden behind the headlights or special trackers or homing devices. really, the technology is pretty basic. there might be a pa system in there with a microphone so the president could talk to a crowd. there might be a radio president

-- a radiotelephone that could be passed in so the president could make phone calls. that's really about it. they were designed to get the president where he was going to allow him to be seen in parades and those kinds of situations. beyond that, technology was fairly basic. if i had to pick a favorite car, i suppose it is the one a lot of people would pick, but i think of the kennedy car. that represents two worlds of presidential transport. you have what starts as a modified lincoln, but beyond that just a car you could buy from any dealer. after the assassination it is completely rebuilt with titanium planing, filters for gas attacks, still plating underneath. really a car that represents a changing moment where we really have to start thinking about protection for our president. it is surprising that it took that long and something that tragic to make that realization happened.

of course, president lincoln had been assassinated in the 1860's. it seems for a time which is thought people would not harm the president. it couldn't happen again. unfortunately, it did several times, even before president kennedy was assassinated. i do also like the sunshine special because it is so associated with president roosevelt and so perfect for his sunny optimism during the darkest years of the depression. the love that car very much. he enjoyed writing it and insisted on the top being down when it was nice. it loves to be able to reach out, shake hands. they really did get a lot of energy out of that. both of those cars are really associated with that. presidential limousines are a permanent -- are a permanent exhibit here. have been on the floor since the day we got them and have remained on the floor.

the kennedy car was off display for several years out of sensitivity of the tragedy associated with it, but it has been on the floor since the late 1970's. these are some of the first things people see when they come in because they are the first things people are looking for. they want to see the. i always have fun seeing people pose for pictures with these cars. they always pose with the sunshine special in the kennedy car. a few years ago we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the kennedy assassination, we moved the car to the front so it was closer to the entrance of the museum. that was one of the most remarkable days in my professional career, seeing people lined up out the door waiting for an hour or more just to spend a few minutes with that car. they left flowers, cards, notes. it really kind of shows how these are real, physical, tangible links to our own memories and experiences, and i think that's what makes these cars so special. [captioning performed by the national captiong