Rob: On Rob on the Road... California'’s White House Legacies.

Explore the presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

Plus, the White House Legacies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and a California legacy leader making history in the nation'’s capital.

Rob on the Road starts now!

Annc: And now, Rob on the Road, exploring Northern California.

California'’s White House Legacies run deep in the Golden State.

Among the most notable of the former presidents - Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

We begin in Simi Valley at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

The massive quarter of a million square foot complex in Ventura County is the largest Presidential Library in the United States.

It holds the presidential records for President Reagan'’s administration, including a million and a half photographs, 60 million pages of documents, and an exact replica of the Oval Office occupied by our 40th President.

More than 375,000 people visit the Library and Museum every year.

It takes about 3 hours to tour everything here, including Reagan'’s Air Force One, a piece of the Berlin Wall, gorgeous gardens, and the final resting place of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

The Reagans lived in this Bel Air mansion after leaving the White House.

You may also remember him as Governor of California, and a resident of Sacramento'’s "Fabulous 40s" East Sacramento neighborhood.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt'’s 4 terms in the White House provided California a legacy that lives on today.

Let'’s explore the USS Potomac, known as the 'Floating White House,' in the Port of Oakland.

♪♪ Rob: This is gorgeous, Marti.

Marti: Thank you.

Rob: The U.S.S.

Potomac, the 'Floating White House,' this was F.D.R.

's Presidential Yacht.

Marti: Correct.

It is an amazing piece of history and there's an amazing history to the ship.

Rob: So, we're going to get an overview of the U.S.S.

Potomac, we're gonna take a tour and then later tonight- the showstopper- you're gonna set this thing sail.

Marti: Oh yeah, we're going out for two hours.

We're gonna see the Golden Gate Bridge, the sunset, and the Bay lights.

♪♪ Rob: Welcome to the fantail of the U.S.S.

Potomac.

This was F.D.R.

's favorite spot here.

Marti: Yes indeed, it was.

He would sit in one of the chairs or on the couch behind us, and you'll notice that the couch is very, very wide, and that was so it would support his legs.

Rob: I see.

Marti: And he could go all the way back, and his legs would be fully supported.

He had a lot of congressional people on board.

He had royalty on board.

This was such a pleasant place, and he would take the Potomac down the Potomac to Chesapeake Bay, to get away from the heat and all the muggy weather in July, and so forth.

Rob: And even one of his famous fireside chats was done from right here on the U.S.S.

Potomac.

>>[Recording of President Roosevelt] I am sitting in the little cabin of the little ship Potomac...

Rob: Well, I can't wait to go on a tour of the U.S.S.

Potomac, but before we do, this vessel itself has a storied history.

I mean, you talk about from when it started being built in the mid '30s until it was the presidential yacht from '36 all the way to '45, but after that... what a story.

[laughing] Rob: Owned by Elvis at once.

Marti: Yes.

Rob: It even sunk.

Marti: When it left presidential service, it was sold to the Maryland fisheries and it served as a fisheries boat for about ten years.

And then, they sold it to a couple of guys who took it down to the Barbados to use as a ferry.

And then, when the Seattle World's Fair was going to be in Seattle, they decided it'd be a great idea to bring it up through the Panama Canal to- you know, as a- an attraction.

What happened was they broke down in Long Beach, they didn't have enough money to repair the ship, so it was gonna be sold for scrap.

Well, um, Elvis Presley heard about it, so he bought it and he was going to give it to the March of Dimes, but they didn't- they declined, and so he gave it to Danny Thomas for Saint Judes Hospital.

They sold it for 55,000, and, um, a woman in Long Beach took it on as a museum.

She sold it to another man from up here in San Francisco, who ostensibly was going to use it as a figurehead for charity.

Rob: Hmm.

Marti: In fact, he was running drugs out of Mexico- what a decline!

And he got busted, she got busted, the Potomac got busted by the D.E.A.

and she was impounded at Treasure Island.

Rob: And sunk.

Marti: And sunk.

[laughing] She had pin- pinprick holes all throughout the hull.

Rob: Aww... And then, in 1983, it was refurbished, it began to be refurbished.

Marti: There was a lot of love poured into this ship over the period of its restoration, which took about twelve years.

So, we opened to the public in 1995 and we've been open ever since.

We cruise on the water, we take dockside tours, and most importantly, we focus our programs on education.

The thing that's so exciting about it is that it's an experiential learning; they remember being on the president's ship.

Rob: Well, and y'know, there are so few places that you can literally put your hands on history... Marti: That's correct.

Rob: This is one of them.

Marti: Oh yeah.

You can sit in historic places.

You can listen to the president's voice.

You can see the historic binnacle, which is up in the pilot house, and I'm sure we'll show you that.

Rob: I know one of the docents is gonna give us a tour and you're gonna take us out on the Bay, coming up.

Marti: You betcha.

♪♪ Rob: We're inside the presidential dining room with docent Charles Norman.

Good to see you, Charles.

Charles: It's nice meeting you.

Rob; And we hear you know everything about this ship.

Charles: Well, just about.

Rob: [laughing] Good.

This is the U.S.S.

Potomac, 1936 bell.

Charles: Right.

Rob: This is the president's table.

This is where President Roosevelt would have his meals.

Charles: Right.

Yeah, he would have his meals here, entertain his guests and, uh, also maybe use the desk that we have over there and maybe work on his stamp collection.

Rob: He was an avid stamp collector- over a million stamps.

Charles: Right, yes he did.

Rob; We're inside the presidential state room, the bedroom, and right here is where the president slept.

Charles: Yes, he would sleep here.

It was just one bed, of course, and of course, you might wonder where his wife slept when she was onboard.

But as far as we know, she did not sleep onboard.

She did come aboard many times during the day, but just not overnight.

Rob: How often would the president actually stay here?

Charles: This was- it was sort of a weekend retreat, so it's mostly weekends- extended weekends that he would come onboard.

Rob: I have to ask about his dog.

Charles: Yes, he had a dog, a Scottie named Fala.

Rob: Mmhmm, who he loved.

Charles: Yes he did, and he went on most of the trips on the on the ship, so, Fala was onboard the ship.

Rob: We're inside the radio room now, a small room but packed with big history, Charles.

Charles: This is where all communication onto and off the ship took place.

There were two means of communication.

There was a shortwave radio, such as this, and the telegraph.

[beeping] >>Oh wow.

[beeping] That's the real thing.

♪♪ You really get the feel of the massiveness of the ship, although it's only 165 feet long, it still feels very large out here on the bow, which was for the crew.

Charles: Right, mainly for the crew.

This was where they did their work.

Rob: How many people did it take to crew this ship?

Charles: 57.

Rob: 57.

Charles: Yes, there were three officers and 54 men who ran the ship.

♪♪ Rob: Marti, look at this.

Marti: Look at the sun going over the top of that fog, isn't that amazing?

Rob: Unbelievable.

We have set sail out on the San Francisco Bay on the U.S.S.

Potomac.

Marti: It's a learning experience with people, but it also allows us to tell the story of how critical this man was to the United States when he was president.

And all around San Francisco are marks of the work that F.D.R.

did with his brilliant ideas of putting people back to work.

He could leave Washington on his own, if he wanted to, with maybe an aid or two, and spend the quiet time going down the Potomac towards the Chesapeake thinking about the things that he needed to do.

Rob: Do you think about President Roosevelt when you're on the Potomac?

Marti: He's here.

No kiddin'.

Rob; What do you think President Roosevelt would think about all these people here, on the U.S.S.

Potomac?

Marti: I think he'd be celebrating.

He'd probably be sitting in his- sitting in the back, with a stogie in his holder, and a dirty martini or a good glass of wine, and saying, "Hello everyone!

Welcome aboard the Potomac."

[laughing] Rob: The legacy lives on.

Marti: Oh, absolutely.

And we're so glad that you all were able to come and enjoy it with us.

Rob: Oh, me too.

♪♪ Now to Yorba Linda, California, where the 37th president of the United States was born on his family'’s lemon farm, now home to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

This is the 9-acre campus, where you can explore a tumultuous time in American history, and get a glimpse of Orange County'’s agricultural past.

Here, you'’ll see an extensive collection of memorabilia, artifacts, formal clothing, and photographs of the Nixons and their children.

Both Richard and Pat Nixon are buried here.

A massive renovation in 2016 showcases a replica of Nixon'’s Oval Office and the East Room of the White House.

Recognize this San Francisco towering treasure?

Coit Tower is the birthplace of FDR'’s Works Progress Administration art movement.

The WPA got people back to work, and the country moving, during the Great Depression.

Renowned artists created some of the most famous murals in the country right here, inside Coit Tower.

You've got a lot to show us here, at Coit Tower, which went through major renovations, opened in May of 2014.

Davy: Right.

The city spent $1.7 million to restore the tower to some sense of what it was originally.

They've done everything from structural stuff, getting rid of asbestos, lead-based paint, to really focusing on the art.

Rob: Tell me about the history of Coit Tower.

Davy: Lillie and her family moved here in 1851.

Rob: Lillie Coit.

Davy: Exactly.

Lillie grew up not too far from here.

Back then, there was no civic fire department.

Rob: Yeah, they were volunteer.

Davy: So, there were these hand-hold things and they would race them, and Lillie adopted this one company called Knickerbocker Number 5.

She ended up leaving $120,000, which was a third of her fortune, to the city to build something beautiful.

Took the city fathers five years to figure out what they wanted to do, this is the design that won.

It's made out of the least expensive material they had at the time, reinforced concrete.

Rob: Well, now, it is shining in its glory, like it was meant to in the very beginning, so can we go inside for a tour?

Davy: Come on in.

Rob: Okay, thank you.

♪♪ Rob: My goodness.

Davy: About 2,000 people a day come in here during the summertime, and what we're trying to do is do a paradigm shift in terms of having people care about the art, rather than just taking the elevator ride to the top.

Rob: The murals are spectacular, and it is fascinating to me that the murals were really the test kitchen- Coit Tower, the test kitchen for President Roosevelt's W.P.A.

project.

Davy: Correct, it was originally set up for the Public Works of Art Project, P.W.A.P., which was funded for about three months and then the funding spun into the W.P.A., once they saw that you could actually have bunches of artists all working in harmony, at a time when we were at our most distraught here in the heart of the depression.

So, trying to put a smile on people's faces was a big gamble for the administration and it seems to have paid off.

The direction that the Federal Government gave the artists was pretty much, "Talk about modern-day California."

Rob: And you see that, you really do see California's story being told in that day.

Davy: And with a dramatic twist, certainly, the look on the strikers' faces.

Rob: It blows my mind, the vibrancy of the colors here.

Davy: That's the nature of fresco.

It's earth pigments that have been ground very fine, mixed with distilled water.

At eighty years old, this fresco still isn't cured, so technically this is still a drying painting.

We're not gonna be around to see it, but people are gonna keep these things bright for a long time.

Rob: Ralph Stackpole had the commission to do this art.

Davy: This particular wall, just this wall, representing the industry in California.

Rob: Ralph Stackpole is the same artist who did a very famous mural in Sacramento, at Sacramento City College.

Davy: Yes he did, he's a very fine painter.

Rob: Detailed.

Davy: Detailed, absolutely.

Rob: I am so excited about what's next, because behind the closed door and up the stairs, you have a behind-the-scenes tour for us... Davy: Yes we do.

Rob: ...of some spectacular art.

Let's go take a look.

Davy: Let's go take it.

♪♪ Rob: Davy, why are the murals in the hallways blocked off from the public?

Davy: Well, there's no protection up here, so we bring people up here with no more than eight at a time, under docent supervision.

Rob: And y'know, I'm sure that you can hear the echoey sound it's because we literally are in the walkways all the way up to the top of Coit Tower.

I have to point out, right here when you walk through the front door, this is Eleanor Roosevelt.

Davy: Yes it is.

Rob: And they're looking at a drawing for P.W.A.P.

Davy: Right, it's a reversed map for the Public Works Art Project.

Rob: Here you see a lot of sports and athletics.

Davy: Outdoor life in California.

Rob: Outdoor life in California, that's exactly what this is.

Who was the artist here?

Davy: This particular artist was Edward Terada.

He was a native Japanese, very famous art professor in Japan.

Over here, this is called "The Playground."

Ralph Chessé was the only African American painter in here, from New Orleans.

Rob: That makes me think of something.

This painting being by the only African American painter then, in here.

This painting right here, this mural by the only Asian painter at that time, in the mural project here.

And that leads me to the point that these murals were also about social justice.

Davy: Absolutely.

This is just the beginning of strong feelings.

1934, as a country, although we were certainly imbued with all the right ideals, there still a lot of racist sentiments.

I mean, today there's a lot of racist sentiments, but they were really making an effort to make all this go on.

And all the interaction among the artists, the fact that there were men painting, women painting... Asians, African Americans, all on the same par.

Rob: Isn't that fantastic?

And I love that it was ahead of its time.

Davy: Very much so.

Rob: This room is different than all the rest.

Davy: Absolutely, different material, different technique, different color palette.

This is Jane Berlandina who painted on dry plaster using egg yolk tempera.

Rob: Well we've made it to the top of Coit Tower... look at this view.

You see Treasure Island, you see The Piers, and you see the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

This is the outdoor deck which is closed to the public Davy: The Belvedere Level, correct.

Rob; The Belvedere Level, and tourists go about 20 more steps higher, and they're behind windows.

But right now we have the perfect opportunity to do a 360 tour of the city, so can we do it really quick you think?

Davy: Absolutely, come on ahead.

Rob: Okay, let's go.

So... look at this part of town.

Davy: Transamerica Pyramid, Telegraph Hill.

Rob: Let's keep walking.

Look at this.

Davy: Washington Square in the heart of Little Italy.

That's Saint Peter and Paul's Church with the spires.

Rob: Golly.

Look at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Davy: And up there you'll see the curvy part of Lombard Street with all the cars creeping slowly down.

Rob: Oh yeah!

My gosh.

And there's Alcatraz.

Davy: In all its splendor.

Rob: And then we make our way back over here to where we started.

Such a splendid view.

Davy: I'm glad you guys were able to come and take a look at it.

Rob: Literally leaves me speechless.

[laughing] Rob: It is a special place.

I had no idea the things I would see here, and the sights I would see here as well, so thank you.

Davy: You're very welcome.

Rob: Here at Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, thanks Davy.

♪♪ The first sitting president to visit California was Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880, during his great 71-day tour of the American West.

He journeyed across the country by railroad and stagecoach, with stops in Sacramento and San Francisco.

Here'’s another first- California'’s Kamala Harris, making history as the first female to hold the office of Vice President.

Dan Morain has been a journalist, covering Northern California and Southern California, for about 40 years.

Now, Dan has a book, which is international.

It is "Kamala's Way," and it is about the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, of course, from California.

It is so good to see you, Dan, joining us from your home in Davis.

Dan: Well, thanks a lot for... for inviting me along.

Rob: Yeah, I'm glad that you're here on Rob at Home.

And first of all, I have to just talk to you about the book.

Wow!

What a... what a huge get.

Dan: We sort of thought that the Biden-Harris, uh, ticket was going to win, but we weren't s- obviously, were not sure.

The goal was to, um, produce it before inauguration and, um, and so, that meant I was on a really tight deadline.

Um, basically, started it in September and finished it on November 3rd, election night, um, handed in the final chapters and went downstairs and watched the returns.

Rob: My goodness.

That is a fast turnaround.

And it seems like a natural fit that you were tapped to do this because of your extensive coverage of California.

Dan: It was really an intense, um, two... two months- September, October, and beginning of October, um, to produce it.

But, um- And I- And although it's- the title is "Kamala's Way: An American Life," it really is a California story.

And I mean, you know, Rob.

You... you... you read the book.

And so many of the stories are- um, that... that I, uh, cite are stories that I covered over the decades, or that colleagues, friends of mine at the Times, or the Chronicle, or the Sacramento Bee, or other papers covered over... over the decades, but that I was aware of, or part of covering.

So it's- It real... it really is a... a... a California story.

You know, I'm a California journalist.

I- You know, I don't presume to know Washin- the, uh, ways of Washington, D.C.

I sort of know how Sacramento works.

Um, uh, and it's about a Californian, Kamala Harris.

I view her as a transitional person.

She is, um, uh- She was born in a transitional time in California- 1964.

And think about what was going on in the 1960s and in, um, uh, Berkeley where she grew up, uh, and Oakland.

Um, uh, you know, the start of the... the... the anti-war movement, the environmental movement, the- um, uh, really, a... a hotbed for, um, the civil rights movement.

Um, uh, all that came together, plus all the great music that came out of the sixties in the Bay Area.

Um, but she's a transitional person in... in politics, too.

Um, you know, the first woman, the first woman of color to be the San Francisco district attorney.

The first woman, the first woman of color to be the California attorney general.

Um, and... and so, she's- You know, that's... that's what she is, but it's also, um, who she is, who she represents.

I mean, this is, um, a child of... of a immigrant mom from India and dad from... from Jamaica.

It's- To me, um, she's just a- she's a transitional person in a state that is known for its transition and, um, so much of what happens in California spreads East.

And, um, and... and so, I think that... that now that she's Vice President, so much of what she has um- Well, the transition is... is... is... is really going national in a, uh, in a significant way.

She's going to be part of the national stage for at least the next four years.

She's certainly gonna run for president.

Um- Rob: Do you think she will be?

Dan: Do I think she will be president?

You know, it's so hard to be president.

Um, uh- Rob: It's also impossible to predict, as we have seen.

Dan: Yeah, yeah.

I think she could be.

Um, you know, she didn't- She ran for president, obviously, in 2019.

That did not go well.

Um, uh, she pulled the pin- Rob: Which your book discusses about how she planned along the way, um, for the vice presidency, to be tapped for that.

Dan: Yeah, well, she wasn't running for second place.

She was running to win.

Um, once she realized she wasn't going to win, she... she pulled out, uh- win the nomination- Once she realized she wasn't going to get the nomination she... she pulled out.

She pulled out early, um, and then, um, went about her work being a... a United States Senator.

And she was obviously positioned to be, uh, uh, a vice presidential candidate, somebody who would be on anybody's short list.

Rob: Did you ever think all along the way, covering her all these years, or... or seeing all the articles and reading things throughout the past couple of decades- Did you ever think that she would be on such a large national platform?

Dan: Well, you know, having covered politics for all these years, I...

I've...

I've seen a lot of, um, really impressive politicians, uh, come through Ca... California, come through Sacramento.

I've...

I've helped cover a presidential campaign or two, along the way.

She, uh, is talented.

She, uh, uh, you know- She's ambitious.

Uh, uh, she's smart.

She's tough.

Yeah, of course she- You could... you could well see her rising.

Rob: Well, I'm honored and flattered that you took the time to be on our program today.

And Dan, thank you so much for all of your hard work over the past 40 years.

And I look forward to the next 40.

You mentioned you were tired, but I don't think you're slowing down at all.

Dan: Yeah, no.

I got a few other things to do.

But anyway, thanks so much!

Rob: Come back when you have the next book, okay?

Dan: Alright.

This has been delightful.

Thank you so much for taking the time.

Rob: Thank you so much.

Dan Morain, here, California journalist and author of "Kamala's Way."

Great to see you.

Dan: All right.

See you, now.

Rob: Bye.

Dan: Bye.

I hope you'’ve enjoyed Rob on the Road - California'’s White House Legacies.

Check out all of our episodes at robontheroad.org.

Follow us for behind the scenes tours on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We'’ll see you next time right here, on Rob on the Road.

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