Next, we tour the president ial vehicles collection at the Henry Ford Museum in dearborn, michigan. Transportation curator Matt Anderson shows us cars used by president s truman, eisenhower, carter and reagan, and the Lincoln Continental that john f. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated. My name is Matt Anderson and im curator of transportation here at the henry ford. We are inside the Henry Ford Museum of american innovation. Just outside our driving america exhibit, where we look at the history of the automobile in the united states. Were actually standing in front of a series of president ial limousines, which tell the story of the development of president ial transportation over the last 117 years or so. Right behind me is a 1902 carriage used by president theodore roosevelt. It becomes a force of the united states, starting in 91890, but by the time of roosevelts administration, its a common occurrence to see cars moving on public streets. Roosevelt, interestingly enough, for all the reputation he has as a real forwardlooking progressive, never really cared much for automobiles. He wanted to rain in horsedrawn vehicles. Partly there was a formality that was appropriate to the dignity of the office, but also i think he had a progressive and man of the people image that he wanted to protect. At that time, automobiles were still very much thought of as play things for the wealthy. So it wouldnt do him any good to be caught riding around in a car. He remained in the brome and used that for his primary transportation when moving around washington, d. C. Vehicles like this would have been fairly common, particularly in larger cities. We have a vision in our heads i think put by so many western movies that everybody had a carriage in the house behind their home there. 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 walking by foot or bicycling. Certainly streetcars were available at time. Out in rural area, you certainly had a general purpose carry. Not a buggy that resembles this. A farm wagon to take into town or wherever you were going. In larger cities, more hoff knees being used for personal transportation or taxi services. For the president , he would be of a certain station to be able to use one of these, as roosevelt did throughout his administration. Another vehicle that belonged to franklin roosevelt, who was president a few decades later. Teddy roosevelt preferred he played no favorites. He had an electric car, a gasoline powered car and a Steam Powered car. From that time on president ial transportation evolved rather quickly. The car behind us is a 1939 lincoln model k, which is perhaps one of the most significant president ial vehicles in that it is the first car specifically modified for president ial use. And when i say that, i dont 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 more flashy or showy. It was modified for practical purposes, the seat material is thicker. It has a popular nickname, sunshine special which comes partly from roosevelts preference to ride with the top down. It is a convertible whenever the weather permitted. But also because roosevelts famously sunny optimism even throughout the dark days of the depression, he kept an optimistic persona through his public appearance. This car was modified even more. It went back to detroit where armor was added to the vehicle. Bullet resistant glass along the sides. Curiously, it is still, of course, a convertible. There was a weak spot in the protection. Nevertheless, it does represent an important turning point in president ial transportation. If we look at sunshine special were some other modifications you wouldnt see on a typical vehicle. Its got wide running boards, somewhat common in the 1930s. They were fading away and falling from popularity. On the back of the car, theres a lit sign that says police do not pass, if you came up behind this vehicle, you should not pass it. The president should always be in front of the group. Grab handles on the back and along the front there and the sides as well for secret Service Agents to hold onto the vehicle and a couple platforms on the rear bumper for agents to ride to protect the president and his passengers. President ial motorcades were still evolving, still modest affairs during roosevelts terms. He would be in the car, a few trailing vehicles carrying over people in the president ial party. Then is now the greatest honor and the greatest status symbol would be able to ride in the car with the president himself, important dignitaries or people roosevelt was trying to woo, perhaps members of congress would ride in the car with him. That was seen as a great treat. Other modifications, a couple cabinets built into the rear of the front seats there, and they could be used to store weapons, guns in the event of an emergency or if the secret service were to be needed to protect the president. Several things you wouldnt see on a typical car, a siren in front, red lights as well to get people out of the way as the president was coming through. With that, we can look at another car that came after world war ii, and was used by a few of roosevelts successors. Were looking now at a 1950 lincoln cosmopolitan that was used by president harry true man, even by president john f. Kennedy for a short period. But it is most often associated with president dwight d. Eisenhower. It was originally built as a convertible. And the president thought that the the war is over now, and security is not a violatital co. It does provide protection in weather. Rain or snow, the president has protection under there. You can stack the panels in the trunk, and doesnt have to be used. That would allow the president to stand up in the car. Handrails are in the back of the front seat that would allow the president s to stand. That explains the other window up there too. This is, of all things, a bug shield so as the president is standing up there and waving to crowds he doesnt get a face full of flies or something. The problems only a president might have. This vehicle is just a standard lincoln stretched a bit and given perhaps a little more rigorous rigorous material for wear and tear. Platforms in the back for secret Service Agents, flashing lights, spotlights, sirens, fairly modest in terms of its appointments. It served the president s very well right up into the kennedy administration. The size of the president ial fleet really varies from year to year. It starts fairly modest and thothen grows a bit. Primarily there was always one main parade car for the president. That car certainly would be used when he was traveling in a motorcade in washington, d. C. It might be taken with him when hes traveling. At this time this car could have traveled by rail or airplane at that time. They start to move toward cargo planes to transport the cars to various places by the time eisenhower is the president. But they might use vehicles furnished by a dealer. They might go to the local lincoln agent, provide a new car that looked fairly decent, a convertible, and that was it. The state cars were really used for special purposes or very high profile events. There was a lot of difficulty in the expense in transporting them. President s wouldnt be driving themselves in their official capacities, not in motorcades. Their point was to be seen, the cars were always meant to provide an opportunity for the public to feel as though they were getting a close look at the president. However, president s did enjoy driving on their own, perhaps around the white house grounds, more often at their private homes. Franklin roosevelt had a ford model a modified that allowed him to drive it with hand controls, didnt have the use of his legs. President Lincoln Johnson sometimes is thought of too going down to his ranch, several cars he enjoyed, a few lincolns, he had one of those cars that turned into a boat. He loved to drive that into the river on his ranch. President s did drive for fun, but not in their official capacities. The president ial vehicle behind me is undoubtedly the most famous president ial vehicle in our collection. Arguably the best known president ial limb seen ousine o sort. This is the 1961 Lincoln Continental, and its the car kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in 1963. The car looks different now than it was then. It did not have this roof. It was a convertible originally and had no armor of any kind on it. This is a time after world war ii, despite the cold war heating up, we 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 for the united states. It is just after president eisenhower signed the legislation that will create the interstate highway system so people are now traveling on summer vacations, traveling for business, for work. Theyre going by car. And to some extent by airplane. But the family car is very much a force of life. And this lincoln really was a perfect fit for president kennedy. If we think about large cars like cadillacs or lincolns through the 1950s, we think of the big tail fins. By 1958, 1959, got a bit excessive, perhaps past the point of good taste. When these lincolns were redesigned in 1961 they were a breath of fresh air, the chrome is understated, the cars are clean and elegant looking, very formal. It was a Perfect Match for president kennedy. We think of him as being very elegant, modern and 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 a roof like the one we saw on the earlier 1950 lincoln, bubble top. Acrylic to protect from weather and snow and rain, wouldnt provide any protection from any kind of weapons. The car was in its convertible configuration that day in dallas. After the assassination the car was immediately sent back into the white house where the fbi and the secret service conducted a thorough investigation and 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. People are always astounded to think this car was put back into service. You would assume it was destroyed or locked away in a warehouse somewhere. The simple fact is the president needed to have a vehicle, president johnson at this point, and there wasnt time to go back to the drawing board. The most expeditious thing to do was rebuild this car. That said they thoroughly rebuilt it, stripped the car down to its bear frame, titanium arp more plating, steel plating. There was a special filter put into the trunk there so that if there was a gas attack it would filter and take out the harmful gas to protect the president. And, of course, there was this large wraparound rear wind screen, which at the time was the largest piece of bullet proof glass that had ever been made. These cars always have this tricky sort of dual mission, one, they have to protect the president , but then they also have to make him as visible as possible. Its tough to find the balance between those two things. We see the car now, 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 in dallas that day, and he was always very uncomfortable riding in this car, i think for obvious reasons. One thing he insisted, sort of at the last minute is that the car be painted black, he thought the blue would be too associated with the publics mind with the tragedy in dallas. Black it would be. Theres a hatch built into the roof that wasnt originally there. 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, if you will, and wave to crowds. That was put in. Theres this constant strain between the president and his protectors, the president wants to be seen, they thrive on the interaction with the public and the secret service would just as soon have the president hermetically sealed. Another issue was with all that glass now. It got very hot in that car. Of course the original airconditioning, which just ran off the vents in the front wouldnt be sufficient to keep a car of this size cool. They added a secondary conditioning unit in the trunk to add some more power to it. But even sew, it was still it could be sweltering hot in that car. They never quite found it. But this car was used all the way through 1977 into the carter administration. It was no longer the primary president ial vehicle, by the early 1970s. But it might be used by a president if the primary vehicle was unavailable for some reason. But its kind of remarkable to think it was used for that long before it was finally retired from service and came here to the Henry Ford Museum of american innovation. I should point out, too, these cars at this time were not purchased outright by the white house. They didnt have the budget at that time to be buying expensive vehicles like this. They were instead leased to the white house by lincoln. Lincoln thought it was worth it. They got tremendous publicity out of it. And it was a good deal for the white house. They had a 10, 15year service life at most. The problem with these cars, as with any car, at a certain point they get too dated. This car, which looked very modern in 1961, looked decidedly out of fashion by the mid1970s. At that point it had to be retired. At that point also there was a new president ial vehicle, the primary vehicle, and thats the one we can look at next. Were looking now in the last of our series of president ial vehicles here at Henry Ford Museum of american innovation, 1972 Lincoln Continental, built by president nixon, and used by every subsequent president up to george h. W. Bush. This represents the final step in the evolution of president ial transportation. Weve gone all the way from the carriage to particularly Franklin Roosevelts shine special and john f. Kennedy as transitional cars, standard lincolns modified, stretched a little, but no other that i think so than that. This is a car that was built from the ground up as an armored vehicle. Designed from the getgo to provide maximum protection to the president. So you have armor plating behind the doors, bullet proof gas, run flat tires which are reenforced with steel inside, if the tire gets punctured the vehicle can still drive away for safety. This car built for president nixon and became the primary car after 1972. It was associated with president reagan. He was shot in 1981. He survived. This is the car in which he was getting after he made the speech to the union at the washington hilton when he was shot. As the president was getting into the car, he was actually hit not by a direct bullet, but by a bullet that ricochetted off of one of the armored panels on this car. It was just a perfect shot for lack of a better term, the ricochet went through the gap between the door and the body. Had things moved a fraction of an inch one way or the other its quite possible he may not have been hit at all. Of course he was pushed into this car and sped off to the hospital and was able to make a recovery. The car continued to be used. Any damage would have been minor. Thats something we dont think about. We think of these cars being glamorous. They lived rough lives, being bumped and pushed around in airplanes all the time, being strapped down, banged up, scratched, also getting hit by paint or by rocks, by black protesters with stones, part of the american way of life. Free to speak our minds and protest, these cars would have been on the front lines of it. They did get a lot of car. The secret service had a garage, repaint them, wash them, change the oil, all those kinds of things to keep them in top condition. The cars simply did age after a certain point, fell out of fashion, the styling looked too dated. This is a car, if you look at photos of it, the front end looks different than it looks today. They changed the front end to make it look more current. Whenever they could, they would try to keep these cars fresh. At a certain point, this one looked too dated, as this one did by the early 1990s. Almost any world leader or dignitary you can think of, from the middle part of the 20th century, would have ridden in one of these cars. We think of roosevelts sunshine special, he had Winston Churchill riding in that car several times, we think about the bubble top with president eisenhower, charles degall rode in that car, princess elizabeth and later Queen Elizabeth rode in that car. Being in the president ial car is a real perk, and a real kind of point of pride for folks. You know, 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, just as air force one is kind of treated as a real perk today and something the president uses as a tool to help sway people to vote the way he might wish them to. This is the most recent car we have in our collection, it was built in 1972, several decades old. The fact is, the cars really arent going to museums much anymore. Not the primary cars. Part of that, theyre not building one primary car, but several copies. There are more of them out there. Partly, i think, too, these cars are really destroyed at the end of the service life. Partly to keep the technology from falling into the wrong hands. But also to test the effectiveness of the armor against different and more modern weapons. So its rare to see them in museums anymore. We may not get anymore either. We got these vehicles from the lincoln motor company, they were leased to the white house by lincoln. And when the lease expired and the cars became too dated lincoln took the cars back and turned around and gave them to us have were grateful. Now the cars are provided by cadillac and are purchased outright by the white house. Theyre not going back to cadillac or general motors. They remain the 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 this really the car in which the president was assassinated . Its hard to believe that it would have been put back into service and used for several more years after the assassination. It is. It was simply a matter of time. It was faster to rebuild that one than start from scratch. The reagan car, looks like it has a spoiler in the back. Thats actually a handrail for secret Service Agents. The bumper folds down, that lifts up from the trunk to make a handrail to hold onto when theyre riding in a parade. People are surprised at the technology of these cars. They assume there must be rocket launchers hidden or special trackers or homing devices. No, really, the technology is pretty basic. Might be a pa system in there with a microphone so the president can talk to a crowd, a radio telephone which can be patched into the white house switchboard which allowed the president to make a few phone calls. Thats about it. Beyond that, these were just transportation vehicles, designed to serve its purpose, get the president where he was going and to allow him to be seen in parades, those kinds of situations. Beyond that, technology was fairly basic. If i had to pick a favorite car of these, i suppose its the one a lot of people would pick, but i think of the kennedy car as being a favorite of mine. That represents, really, sort of two worlds of president ial transport. You have what starts as just a modified lincoln, its been stretched and given a slightly larger engine, beyond that, like a car you would buy from any dealer, after the assassination, its completely rebuilt. Titanium plating, steel plating. That is a car that represents this changing moment where we really have to start thinking about protection for our president s. And it is surprising it took that long and took something that tragic to make that realization happen. President lincoln was assassinated in the 1860s. For a time, we just thought these were abstractions, that people would not harm the president. It couldnt happen again. Unfortunately it did several times before president kennedy was assassinated. I would pick that one. I do like sunshine special too, so associated with president roosevelt. So perfect for his sunny optimism. He loved that car very much too, enjoyed riding this it. Insisted on the top being down whenever possible. Both roosevelt and kennedy are car ismatic leaders that thrived in the crowds. They got a lot of energy out of the public. Both cars are associated with both of those leaders. Our president ial limousines are a permanent exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum of american innovation. All of them, with the exception of the kennedy car have been on the floor. That car we left off of display for several years, of course, out of sensitivity of the tragedy associated with it. But its been on display on our floor since the late 1970s. These are some of the first things people see when they come into the museum, very prominent in front. They are the first things people are looking for. They know theyre here. I have fun seeing people pose for pictures with these cars. Always posing with the sunshine special and the kennedy car. A few years ago, when we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the kennedy assassination, we moved the kennedy car closer to the front. Boy, that was one of the most remarkable days in my professional career, 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 real physical tangible links to our m memories and personal experiences. Thats what makes these cars so special. You can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website at cspan. Org history. Join us saturday at 9 30 a. M. 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How do you get to know a person unless you meet them . The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal, these children were ready. And at 6 00 p. M. On american artifacts, we look at a selection of cliff ford berrimans political cartoons. His cartoons appeared almost daily, usually on the front page of the paper, very prominently placed. He had quite an illustrious career. Watch American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Governors from across the country are gathering if washington, d. C. This weekend for their annual winter meeting. Throughout the day saturday the National Governors association will host discussions on jobs. The opioid crisis, and the future of agric