>> oh, yeah, it's here to stay, because it's lovingly cared for. there's a whole staff of building people here and you have the national parks service who have been the stewards of it now since franklin roosevelt, '33. no, it's watched very carefully. and of course, we have the secret service all around watching. so anything that goes wrong is fixed. so it's very carefully maintained. more so than the days of the general grant when he called out the fire department to shoot the hose on the house and clean it so he didn't have to paint it. >> the great thing about you is that there's always more stories, but unfortunately, we have to end. bill seale, white house historian, whose latest book is called "a white house of stone: building america's first ideal in architecture." you know, the old expression is always, if these stones could talk. you've managed to make the stones talk in your new book. >> thank you, susan. >> thank you for telling the story. >> great.

>> you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. 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 until dearborn, michigan. transportation curator, matt anderson, shows us cars used by presidents truman, eisenhower, carter, and reagan. and the and we look at the history of the automobile in the united states. and we're actually standing in front of a series of presidential limousines, which tell the story of the development of presidential transportation over the last 117

years or so. right behind me is a 1902 broem carriage that was used by president theodore roosevelt. by the time of roosevelt's administration, it's a common occurrence to see cars moving on public streets. roosevelt, interestingly enough for all of the reputation he has as a real forward-looking progressive really never cared much for automobiles. he wanted to remain in horse-drawn vehicles. i think he thought there was a formality involved that was appropriate to the dignity of the office. but also, he had a progressive and sort of man of the people image that he wanted to protect. and at that time, automobiles were still very much thought of as play things for the wealthy. it wouldn't do him any good to be caught riding around in a car. so he remained in the broem and used that as hi primary transportation. vehicles like this would have been fairly common, particularly in larger cities. we have a vision in our heads, inlg put by so many western

movies that everybody had a carriage in the house behind their home there. and it was like the equivalent of the family car in the 1860s and '70s. not so much the case. if you were in the city, you were most often walking on foot, perhaps bicycling by the 1890s, certainly street cars were available by that time. out in rural areas, you probably had some kind of a general purpose carriage. not necessarily a buggy that resembles this. more like a farm wagon or something that you could use to take into town or wherever you were going. but in larger cities, you would see more of these being used for personal transportation or being used as taxi services, that kind of thing. but certainly for the president, he would be of a certain station that he would be able to use one of these, as roosevelt did throughout his administration. and next, we're going to look at a vehicle that belonged to another roosevelt, one of teddy roosevelt's cousins, franklin roosevelt that would be president a few decades later. teddy roosevelt preferred a horse-drawn vehicle throughout his administration, so it was left to his successor, william

howard taft to modernize the house fleet. and he played no favorites, buying one example of each source, an electric-powered car, a gasoline-powered car and a steam-powered car. the car behind us is a 1939 lincoln model-k, which is perhaps one of the most significant presidential vehicles in that it is the first car specifically modified for presidential use. and when i say that, with i don't mean armor, necessarily. in fact, this car was not armored at all when it was first delivered to the white house. nor was it modified to be more luxurious or flashy or showy, instead, it was modified for practical purposes. the upholstery is thicker than a normal lincoln, because a lot of people are getting in and out of the car. this vehicle is most often associated with franklin roosevelt. in fact, it has a popular nickname, sunshine special, which comes partly from roosevelt's preference to ride with the top down. it is a convertible, wherever the weather permitted. but also because of roosevelt's

famously sunny optimism, even throw the dark days of the depression and really into world war ii, he maintained a sort of optimistic persona throughout his public appearances. and this car was, in fact, modified even more after pearl harbor was attacked in 1941. in fact, in early '42, it went back to detroit where lincoln was able to add some armor to the vehicle. so there's some armored plating behind the doors. there's some bullet-resistant glass along the sides. curiously, though,s the still, of course, a convertible. so there was still a weak spot in the protection. but nevertheless, it does represent an important turning poison in presidential transportation. >> if we look at sunshine, we'll see other modifications you wouldn't see on a typical vehicle. it's got some wide-running boards, which were still somewhat common in the 1930s. they were starting to fade away and fall from popularity. if you look at the back of the car, there's a lit sign that says, police, do not pass. if you come up behind this car, you should not pass it. the president should always be

seen out in front of the group. there are also some grab handles on the back and along the front there in the sides, as well, for secret service agents to hold on to the vehicle. and a couple of platforms there built into the rear bumper for agents to raid to protect the president and his passengers. and presidential motorcades were evolving at this time. they could still fairly modest affairs during roosevelt's terms. he would be in the car, perhaps a few police cars as escorts and certainly a few trailing vehi e vehicles carrying other people in the presidential party. but then is now the great honor and greatest status symbol would be able to ride in the car with the president himself. so particularly important dignitaries or people that roosevelt was trying to woo, perhaps members of congress would ride in the car with him and that would be seen as a great treat. there are also some other modifications, a couple of cabinets built into the rear of front seats there and they could be used to store weapons, guns in the event of an emergency or if the secret service would need

them to protect the president. a couple of things you wouldn't see on a typical car. a siren, red lights, it could be used to get attention and get people out of the way as the wth was coming through. with that, we can look at another car that came of world war ii and was used by a few of roosevelt's successors. we're looking now at a 1950 lincoln cosmopolitan. it was used by president harry truman and even by president john f. kennedy for a short period, but it is moeds often associated with president dwight d. eisenhower. as originally built, the car was a convertible. it did not have this plexiglas top. that was credited to eisenhower. he thought that might be handy for the presidential vehicle. it is not armored. in fact, no part of the car is armored. the war is over now. there's no thought of security. or at least, it's not thought to be a vital concern. but it does provide protection from weather. so in the event of rain or snow,

the president can have some protection in there. otherwise, you see, it is sectioned. it can be taken apart and all of those panels can be neatly stacked into the trunk, so you have it if you need it, but it doesn't have to be used. and that would allow the president to stand up in the car. there are a couple of handrails up along the back of the front seat that would allow eisenhower or truman or kennedy to stand and wave to crowds as they went by. which also explains that other strange rectangular windshield up there, too. that is, of all things, a bug shield. so as the president is standing thereupon and waving to crowds, he doesn't get a face full of flies or something. the problems only a president might have. but this vehicle is really just a standard lincoln that's been stretched a little bit and given perhaps a little more rigorous upholstery to hold up to the wear and tear of people getting in and out. there are platforms built on to the back for secret service agents and flashing lights, sirens, that kind of things. but still fairly modest in terms of its appointments. served the president very well in terms of the kennedy

administration. it starts fairly modest and embryos a little bit. but primarily, there was always just one main parade car for the president. and that car certainly would be used wherever it was traveling in some kind of a motorcade in washington, d.c.. it might be taken with him when he's traveling at this time, this car could have traveled by rail or even by airplane at that time, to start to move towards cargo planes to transport these cars to various places by the time eisenhower is president. but often, it's not the president might just use vehicles furnished by a local dealer, if he's traveling to some city, they proigt provide a new car, and that was it. these state cars were used for special purposes, very high-profile events. there was a lot of difficulty in the expense in transporting them. presidents wouldn't be driving themselves in their official capacities, not in motorcades. their point was to be seen, really. these cars were always meant to

provide an opportunity, getting a close look at the president. presidents did enjoy driving on their own. more often in their private homes. i think franklin roosevelt who had a model a, a ford model "a" that allowed him to drive it with hand controls. and of course, he didn't have the use of his legs. president lyndon johnson is sometimes thought of as going down to his ranch. he had several cars he enjoyed. he had one of those cars that turned into a boat. he loved to drive that into the river on his ranch and drive amp around in that. presidents certainly did drive for fun, but not in their official capacities. the presidential vehicle behind me is undoubtedly the most famous presidential visit here in our collection at the henry ford of american innovation. and arguably the best-known presidential limousine of any sort. this is the 1961 lincoln continental used 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 1963.

the car looked very different when kennedy knew it than it does today. when we think to those pictures of kennedy and we think of it as being a deep blue color, and of course, it did not have this roof. it was a convertible and it had no armor. this is a time after world war ii that we just did not think there could be that kind of risk or danger to the president's life. but this is also a time when the automobile is absolutely a force in everyday life in the yates. it is just after president eisenhower has signed the legislation that would create the interstate highway system, so people are now traveling on summer vacations, they're traveling for business, for work. they're going by car. and to some extent by airplane, but the family car is very much a force of life. and this lincoln was a perfect fit for president kennedy. if we think about large cars like cadillacs or lincolns through the 1950s, we think of those big tail fins and all of the shiny chrome and really by 1958, 1959, got a bit excessive, perhaps we passed the point of good taste. so when these lincolns were

redesigned in 1961, they really were a breath of fresh air. the chrome is very under stated. look very formal. and really, it was a perfect match for president kennedy because we think of him as being very elegant, very modern, very forward looking, as he leads us into the new frontier. so the two made a perfect match. president kennedy and this vehicle. now, of course, everything about the car changed after november 22nd, 1963, when the president was assassinated. there had been a roof for the vehicle, even though it was a convertible, but it was a roof like the one we saw on the 1950 lincoln, a bubble top. just acrylic that would protect from snow, wind, rain, wouldn't provide protection from any kind of weapons. and the car was in a convertible configuration in dallas. after the assassination, the car was sent back to the white house where the fbi and secret service conducted a thorough investigation of the vehicle, documented what they needed to for evidentiary purposes. after that, the car was sent

back to its modifiers in cincinnati to be completely rebuilt as an armored vehicle. and people are always astounded to think that this car was put back into surface after the assassination. they would assume it was destroyed or locked away in a warehouse. the simple fact is the president needed to have a vehicle. president johnson, at this point, and there simply wasn't time to go back to the drawing board and build something from scratch. the most expeditious thing to do was to rebuild this car. that said, they thoroughly rebuilt it. stripped the car down to its bare frame and rebuilt it with titanium plating armor, steel plating to protect from a land mine or a grenade. a special filter put into the trunk there, so if there was a gas attack, it would filter and take out the harmful gas to protect the president. and there was this large wrap around rear wind screen, which was the largest piece of bulletproof glass that had ever been made. and these cars always have this tricky kind of dual mission.

one, they have to protect the president, but also have to make him as visible as possible. and it's tough to find the balance between those two things. we see the car now, we notice that it is black instead of that elegant midnight blue we think of when we think of president kennedy. and that was done at the insistence of president johnson. obviously, he was in the motorcade at dallas that day and he was always very uncomfortable riding in this car, i think for obvious reasons. but one thing he insisted at the last minute is that the car be painted blabl eed black. we also, if we look at it now, we would notice there's a hatch built into the roof. that hatch 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 armored bubble, and wave to crowds. so that was put in. and there's this constant sort of strain between the president and his protectors. the president wants to be seen. very much, they thrive on that interaction with the public. and the secret service would

just as soon have the president hermetically sealed and perfectly protected and of course, you can't have it both ways. that hatch was something of a ro compromise. another issue with this car was with all of that glass now and that permanent roof, it got very hot in so they added a second air conditioning unit in the trunk to try to add some more power to it. but it could be swelterring hot in that car. but this car was used through 1977. it was no longer the primary presidential vehicle in the early 1970s. it's kind of areremarkable to tk it was used for that long before it came here that henry ford museum of inovation. and they were not purchased out right by the white house or the secret service.

they didn't have the budget to buy those expensive vehicles. they were leased by lincoln and lincoln thought it was worth it because they got tremendous p publicity and typically perhaps a 10/15 year service life and the problem is at certain point they get too dated. this car, which looked very modern look ddicidedly out of fashion in the 1970s. so at that point it had had to be retired and there was a new presidential vehicle that was the primary vehicle and that's the one we can look at next. we are looking now in the last of our presidential vehicles here at the henry ford museum of invasi invasion. this was build for president nixon and every subsequent president up through george h.w.

bush and this represent thds final evolution. we went from the carriage that belonged to teddy roosevelt, and john f kennedy's lincoln. the point where it cars are built as unarmored standard lincolns, perhaps stretched a little. whereas this car was built from the ground up as an armored vehicle to provide maximum protection to the president. you have armored plating on the doors, bullet proof glass, tired with steel inside so if it gets punctured can still drive away to safety. this became the primary car in 1972 but most often asociated with president regan. he was shot in 1981. it was more dachgs perhaps thaj we realize at the time. and this is the car president

regan was make whg he was shot. and it's almost ironic as the president was getting f to the car, more properly being pushed in to the car,ee was hit not by a direct bullet but by a bullet that ricochetted off one of the armored panels on this car and it was a perfect shot. the ricochet went through the gap between the door and the body. had things moved just a fraction of an inch, it's quite possible he may not have been hit at all. and sped off to the hospital and was able to make a recovery. the car continued to be used. that's something we don't think about. they did live very rough lives. they were being bumped and pushed around in airplanes all the time, banged up, scratched. they were also sometimes getting hit by paint or rocks. it's part of the american way of life. we are free to speak our minds in protest and these cars would

have been on the front lines to it. the secret service a garage where they could repaint them, wash them, all those kinds of things and keep them in top condition but even with that the cars did simply age after a certain point. they fell out of fashion, the styling was too dated. if you look at photo you'll see the front end looks quite different than today. they changed the front end to make it look a little more current. they would try to do that to keep these cars fresh but at some point they look too dated as this one did by the early 1990s. some are associated not just with the presidents but the passengers they carried with them and almost every world leader and dig gnawitary you can think of would have ridden in one of these cars. we think of roosevelt's sunshine special, winston churchill and charles degall wroed in that car at one point.

queen elizabeth both as princess and as queen as well and any number would have been in the more recent cars too so being in the presidential car is a real point of pride for folks and anyone from perhaps a big city mayor to someone in the congress who the president is trying to woo in order to get legislation passed might be given a ride in this car. and something that the president uses as a tool to help influence people and sway them to vote the way he might wish them too. this is the most recent car we have in our collection. and the fact is the cars reallyerant going to museums anymore. part of that is because they're building not just one primary car, they're building several copies so there are more of them out there. and partly i think they're really destroyed at the end of the service life and trart partly to keep the technology

from falling into the wrong hands and test the effectiveness of the armor. it's rare to see them anymore. we may not get anymore either. we got these vehicles from the lincoln motor company. they were leased by lincoln and when the lease expired and the cars became too dated, lincoln turned around and gave them to us. now they're provided cadillac and purchased outright by the white house. so they're not going back to cadillac or general motors or whoever. they remain the property of the government to do with how they see fit. the question they asked all it time about the kennedy cars is this really the car the president was assassinated in? because it's hard to blooev it would have been used for several more years after the assassinations. but it is. it was faster to rebuild that one than to start from scratch.

they ask about what we call it regan car. you see what looks like a spoiler on the back. is that a spoiler? no, that's a handrailer for secret service agents. it bump folds down to make a lift platform and to hold on with when they're riding with the president in the parade. they assume they're something james bond must drive. or special trackers or homing devices and no, really the technology is pretty basic. there might be a pa system for the microphone so the president can talk to a crowd, a radio telephone to allow the president to make a few phone calls but beyond that these were really just transportation vehicle get the president where he was going and to allow him to be seen through those situations. beyond that, technology was fairly basic. if i had to pick a favorite car,

rirltsz one a lot would pick. that represents really sort of two worlds of presidential transport. what starts as a modified lipgen. it's been stretched, given slightly a larger engine. and of course after the asasination is comletely rebuilt with the titanium plating with the special filters with steel plating underneath. so that is a car that represents this changing moment where we have to start thinking about protection from our presidents and it's surprising it took that long and that tragic to make that realization happen and of course president lincoln had been assassinated in the 1860s and for a time we thought these were abstractions, people wouldn't harm the president, it wouldn't happen again and unfortunately it happened several times before president kennedy was assassinated. i love sunshine special because it's so perfect for teddy

roosevelt and his sunny optimism. he enjoyed riding tin. always insisted on the top being down whenever possible. both roosevelt and kennedy are charismatic leaders that love to be able to reach out, shake hands. they really did get a lot energy out of that. both of those cars are asociated with both of those leaders. our presidential limousines, really all of them with the exception of the kennedy car have been on the floor since the day we've got them. that car we left off of display for several years just out of sensitivity out of it tragedy associate would it. but it's been on display since the late 1970s. they're very prominent in the front because they're some of it first things people are looking for and i always have fun seeing people pose for pictures with these cars. always posing with it sunshine

special, always with the kennedy car. in fact when we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the kennedy car, we moved it closer to the entrance of the muse im. seeing people lined up out the door and waiting for an hour or more to spend a few minutes with that car. they left flowers, cards, notes. it shows how these are physical tangible links to our own memories and i think trarlts what makes these cars so special. >> you can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website at c-span.org/history. in 1979 c-span was created a as a public service by your cable television companies and

brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. good morning i'm jim grossman and chair of the national history center for anybody who has 25 minutes after this session to explain the relationship, i'm happy to do it. before we start, i want to welcome everybody. this is a congressional briefing on monuments with a special attention to confederate monuments. if you're not interested in that, then you're in the wrong room. so i'll give you that warning at the beginning.