USS Sequoia is the former presidential yacht used during the administrations of Herbert Hoover through Jimmy Carter. To set a cost-cutting example, Carter ordered her sold in 1977.

Often called the "floating White House", the Sequoia offered presidents, first families and high-ranking government officials a place to escape the complexities of official life while also serving as the backdrop for significant moments of 20th-century American history.

A congressional resolution passed in December 1985 stated, "Sequoia was the setting for Presidential meetings, negotiations and decisions of extraordinary significance for and effect on the history of the United States and the course of world events" and "recognized the unique significance of the former Presidential yacht Sequoia which has made her a symbol of American political heritage and the Office of the President".

Sequoia was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1988 and according to a statement made by the president of the Mystic Seaport Museum to The New York Times, "The Sequoia is probably the most significant artifact of presidential importance that is in private hands".

Formally decommissioned on December 9, 1935, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Sequoia continues to carry its "USS" designation.

The Sequoia is believed to have been named by her original owner, Emily Roebling Cadwalader, after Sequoyah, a leader of the Cherokee Nation.

Design and construction Designed by John Trumpy and built by the famed John H. Mathis & Company Shipbuilders in Camden, New Jersey, Sequoia was completed at a cost of approximately $200,000 and launched October 27, 1925."New $200,000 Yacht Built Here." Camden Post-Telegram, October 27, 1925. Originally named the Sequoia II, she was the second of four successively larger yachts built between 1924 and 1931 for Mr. and Mrs. Richard McCall Cadwalader of Philadelphia. The Cadwaladers' third and fourth yachts were named Savarona and Savarona II, respectively.

At 104 feet in length, Sequoia IIs hull was originally constructed of long-leaf yellow pine on white oak frames and her deckhouse of mahogany and teak. She is capable of comfortably sleeping eight guests in her three double and two single staterooms, has ample crew quarters and can seat 22 for formal dinners.One Folder Collection Series of the Herbert Hoover Presidential LibraryBox 49, folder "SO 6: Receptions" of the Kenneth A. Lazarus Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.

Richard M. Cadwalader and Emily Roebling Cadwalader Richard Cadwalader was a prominent Philadelphia banker and his wife, Emily Roebling Cadwalader, was an heiress to the Roebling fortune. Emily was the granddaughter of John Augustus Roebling, chief engineer and original designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, and was named after her paternal aunt, Emily Warren Roebling.Kelly, Giles M. Sequoia Presidential Yacht. Centreville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2004.

Emily Roebling Cadwalader became the driving force behind the four exceptional yachts constructed for the Cadwaladers, culminating in 1931 with the 446-foot Savarona II.

Sequoia IIs christening and early use Local newspapers recount that on October 26, 1925 after arriving with her party in two Rolls-Royce automobiles, Mrs. Cadwalader broke a bottle of champagne against the bow of the Sequoia II commemorating its service to her family. Oddly, these accounts of Sequoia IIs christening make no mention of prohibition when discussing the champagne. The Cadwaladers sailed Sequoia II on various high-profile trips to the coasts of Florida during 1925 and 1926, including to West Palm Beach and Miami."Party of Northerners Arrives Aboard Yacht." The Palm Beach Post, February 8, 1927."In Miami Beach Social By-Ways." The Miami News, January 28, 1926.

Three years after being built for the Cadwaladers, Sequoia II was sold to William Dunning, a Houston-based oil executive who used the vessel for various gambling trips to Cuba and business-related travel along the Mexican coastline. Dunning was forced to sell Sequoia II during the Great Depression.

U.S. Government service On March 24, 1931, the U.S. Bureau of Navigation within the Department of Commerce purchased Sequoia II from Dunning for approximately $40,000. Sequoia II initially was used to patrol the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays as a decoy vessel to attract would-be bootleggers. In hope of selling illegal liquor, bootleggers would come alongside what was seen as a wealthy family's yacht only to be arrested.

Presidential service

Hoover Administration Herbert Hoover was known to have an affection for Mathis-Trumpy houseboats, such as Sequoia, and had spent time both between his election victory and inauguration and during the early part of his administration cruising and fishing in Florida aboard the yacht Saunterer, a 98-foot Mathis-Trumpy house boat owned by his friend, Jeremiah Milbank.

Having decommissioned the former presidential yacht The Mayflower in 1929, Herbert Hoover initiated Sequoia IIs presidential service by using her on various occasions during the final years of his Administration. This included four documented voyages from 1931 to 1933 for official presidential business as well as for pleasure cruises.Box 389 "Presidential Subject Files", folder "USS Sequoia" of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Various news outlets reported on the status of Hoover's fishing trips aboard Sequoia."Giant Fish Falls Prey to Hoover." Los Angeles Times, January 1, 1933. During 1932, President and Mrs. Hoover spent both Christmas and New Year's Eve aboard the Sequoia II as part of a ten-day fishing trip along the Georgia and Florida coastlines."Hoover Luck Fails in Day of Fishing." The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 27, 1932. Hoover used a photo of the indulgent yacht on his 1932 White House Christmas Card, when many Americans were suffering through the Depression and struggling for basic necessities.

Roosevelt Administration President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the yacht more frequently, with over fifty recorded outings between 1933 and 1935. On March 25, 1933, what was now known simply as Sequoia and no longer Sequoia II, became the official presidential yacht after it was transferred from the Department of Commerce to the Naval Department. An elevator was installed to enable access for the polio-stricken President, who, like Hoover before him, enjoyed fishing aboard Sequoia and also used the vessel for important meetings and summits.

On April 23, 1933, President Roosevelt hosted British Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald as his first guest on the Sequoia. During a cruise to Mount Vernon they discussed the Great Depression, demilitarization, Adolf Hitler's rise and strategies for averting the threat of a potential new war with Germany. As it became clear these efforts were failing and war approached, the wooden Sequoia was deemed unsafe for the President, and on December 9, 1935, Sequoia was officially reassigned to the Secretary of the Navy and the steel-hulled was designated as the presidential yacht. For the next three decades, Sequoia served at the pleasure of the United States Secretary of the Navy until its recommissioning in 1969 as a presidential yacht.

Truman Administration While serving as the yacht for the Secretary of the Navy, U.S. presidents and members of the Cabinet continued to use the Sequoia, often providing the backdrop for critical moments in American history.

President Harry S. Truman who used the as his official yacht, nevertheless called upon Sequoia to host the first atomic arms control talks. Just three months after the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was aboard the Sequoia during a November 1945 cruise down the Potomac past Mount Vernon that Truman first discussed the promise of atomic power and the need to control atomic weapons with the United States' closest allied leaders, Prime Ministers Clement Attlee of Great Britain and Mackenzie King of Canada. On September 16, 1946, then General Dwight David Eisenhower's calendar shows he met aboard the Sequoia with U.S. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, General Carl Spaatz, and British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. This meeting, under the guise of a cruise to Mount Vernon, initiated a series of highly classified political and military discussions from which emerged the Western European Union, which formed in 1948, followed by NATO a year later. General Eisenhower later served from 1951 to 1952 as the first Supreme Commander of NATO.

Eisenhower Administration On election to the presidency, Eisenhower ordered his Joint Chiefs of Staff (including Admiral Arthur W. Radford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs) to meet on the Sequoia to further formulate and develop a plan for implementing Eisenhower's "New Look" defensive policy. On August 6, 1953, Admiral Radford and his fellow Chiefs set sail in the Chesapeake Bay aboard the Sequoia. The military leaders understood the President wanted a consensus and it was not until late on August 8, once the Chiefs had all signed what would be known as the "Sequoia Report", that the Sequoia returned to Washington. The Sequoia Report helped introduce a defensive strategy to reduce the overall size and cost of the military and rely heavily on nuclear deterrence, a doctrine that would serve as a defining turning point in U.S. strategy during the Cold War.

Kennedy Administration President Kennedy's use of Sequoia is not as well documented as that of other presidents. Government photographers did not accompany him on the yacht, and immediately after his assassination, an order was given to destroy all personal logs associated with Sequoias use during the Kennedy Administration.

During October 1962, President Kennedy held strategy meetings on Sequoia to discuss the Cuban Missile Crisis. On May 29, 1963, the Kennedys hosted a cruise to celebrate the President's 46th and final birthday. At 8 pm, the couple boarded Sequoia to the music of two orchestras. With 25 friends and family, the President and his guests danced after a meal of roast filet and Dom Perignon.Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. White House Staff Files of Sanford L. Fox. Social Events, 1961-1964. Events: 29 May 1963, Birthday Dinner, Aboard the Sequoia In the words of Clement Norton, a close Kennedy family friend who was aboard that night, "You never can imagine anything happier or more normal or nice." The iconic photographs documenting the President's last birthday were not taken by an official White House photographer, but by the navy officer in charge of Sequoia using his own Kodak Instamatic camera.

At the time President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963 he and the First Lady were scheduled to host friends for a Sunday cruise aboard Sequoia, two days later, on November 24, 1963. In April 1964, the widowed Mrs. Kennedy spent an evening aboard Sequoia with a group of President Kennedy's closest friends. Frank Gannon, the piano player aboard that day, recounts a poignantly sad story of Mrs. Kennedy requesting him to play "Me and My Shadow" a song about being alone. On May 27, 1964, two days before what would have been Kennedy's 47th birthday, his closest family and some friends once again gathered aboard Sequoia for a dinner cruise documented by Kennedy speechwriter and presidential historian, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Johnson Administration