History— The Sequoia was the scene of some of America’s most historic events: It was used during the Harding administration to enforce Prohibition; Herbert Hoover promoted his use of the Sequoia during the Depression in a misguided effort to elevate the spirit of a starving public; FDR and Eisenhower planned D-day; Truman decided to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and later conducted the world’s first nuclear arms control summit; Eisenhower entertained Korean War veterans; Kennedy celebrated his last (46th) birthday party; LBJ lobbied for civil rights legislation, and planned Vietnam War strategy; Nixon negotiated the first arms control treaty with the Soviet Union, and later decided to resign; Gerald Ford conducted cabinet meetings on board; President Ronald Reagan once met the nation’s Governors at the Sequoia in Richmond. Reagan later wrote in his diary: “I think before I leave I should get the craft back for future Presidents. Virginia. Emperor Haile Selassie and other world leaders have also sailed on Sequoia.
Distinguished Foreign Visitors:
Many distinguished foreign visitors have been entertained by Presidents, or conducted serious business with Presidents, on the Sequoia. During World War II, presidents Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower planned European war strategy with Winston Churchill and Field Marshall Montgomery, respectively. Churchill also enjoyed relaxing on deck while FDR fished in the Potomac River. A year after Truman decided, on the Sequoia, to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Truman hosted the first the nuclear arms control treaty conference with Clement Attlee, the British Prime Minister, and Mackenzie King, the Canadian Prime Minister, who served throughout World War II. Eisenhower allowed Britain’s Queen Elizabeth to use the Sequoia during her visit.
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