Vice President Harry Truman liked to spend afternoons with a bourbon and branch at House Speaker Sam Rayburn’s “Board of Education” hideaway. When he arrived on April 12, 1945, Rayburn told Truman to call Steve Early in the White House...
Mini Histories Articles
From a “Rum Chaser” to a “Drug Runner”
For fourteen years between1920 and late 1933, the United States was “dry.” The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “Volstead Act,” prohibited alcoholic sales, manufacture, and consumption throughout the United States. Still...
Harry Hopkins Onboard with FDR
Personal Advisor to FDR for the Great Depression and World War II (1912 Class President Grinnell College) Next after FDR and his “little dog Fala,” the USS Potomac passenger with the most nautical miles was likely Harry L. Hopkins, the president’s valued...
Founding the United Nations in San Francisco
Founding the United Nations in San FranciscoEighty years ago on June 25, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was adopted unanimously in the San Francisco Opera House and signed the following day at Herbst Theatre Auditorium in the Veterans War Memorial Building. ...
Henry J. Kaiser, FDR’s Dynamo
Henry J. Kaiser, FDR’s DynamoSources: Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II by Arthur Herman Henry J. Kaiser was described as “a dynamo” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Kaiser became the symbol of America as the “arsenal of...
Atlantic Conference With Winston Churchill The Foundation for the United Nations – August 1941
USS POTOMAC MINI-HISTORY BY WALTER ABERNATHY This presidential yacht, off the coast of New England for some relaxation and to escape the Washingtonheat and humidity. It was expected to be the usual fishing routine on the Potomac with the traditionaldaily...





