HAIL OF A RIDE...

Regardless if you happen to be a car nut or a history buff, the details and facts behind the vehicles used to transport the "Leader of the Free World" are, at least for us, nearly as fascinating as the men who have held the highest office in the land.  One such vehicle start off as a bad seed, involved in a life of crime, to later go on as not only being used to transport one of the most important President of the United States, but also becoming a "first" in the history of Presidential limousines.

December 7, 1941, the nation found itself thrown into World War II.  Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and from that moment on, nothing would be the same, including the Presidential automobile.  From President Theodore Roosevelt's white Stanley Steamer, the first automobile

purchased by the government, to the highly criticized
ultra grandiose 1932 Cadillac 452B V-16 Fleetwood Imperial ordered by President Hoover during the depression, the cars used by the White House had just been cars with very few changes made.  Even the wheelchair bound FDR, who with the help of the press had kept this health issue from the general public, had been driven around in a Lincoln K-Series that was modified to hide his ailment.  But when it came to defensive protection even close to what we have in today's First Car, there had been none.  Needless to say, the Secret Service was concerned now that we were at war, and the man they were assigned to guard would basically be a sitting duck while making even the short trip from the White House to the Capitol on December 8.

When presented with the problem, one of the agents recalled that they did have a heavily armored limousine being stored in the impound lot, which would work until the Lincoln could be refitted with armor and bulletproof windows.  This perfect car even had police lights behind the grill, which would
be a first that continued with each Presidential vehicle to this day.  It turned out that the 1928 Cadillac 341A Town Sedan in question had even been painted green and black, which were the colors of police cars in the town the original owner lived.  The town was Chicago, and the owner...the owner of the heavily armored Caddy, which had been seized by the US Treasury Department when he was arrested for tax evasion was one of the most feared men of his time...Al Capone.

After staying up most the night to make sure the car was in working order, the Secret Service gave the OK.  December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt would be the first resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to ride in an armored car.  At the end of that trip, it would turn out to be this Cadillac, which had once been used to protect a crime boss who had taken the lives of many, corrupted and bribed government officials, and spread fear in the hearts of countless, that would drop off the President so he could deliver to  the Congressional chambers and those in a troubled and confused nation, listening at home to their radio, what would be known from then on as the "infamy" speech.  It just goes to show that regardless of where your life is now, it doesn't mean that it has to end there, but it can and will get better.