M.M. Cloutier
Special to the Daily News
When a U.S. president arrived in Palm Beach a century ago, there was no Air Force One or flashing-lights motorcades.
A houseboat, on a leisurely paced journey down the east coast of Florida, pulled up to a dock just north of today’s Flagler Memorial Bridge.
In early 1921, Warren G. Harding soon to be sworn in as the nation’s 29th president came ashore, glad-handing near a sprawling yellow hotel that had helped turn Palm Beach into a resort town.
“The news spread like wildfire and everyone crowded around to have a peep at our coming greatest man,” an observer noted.