Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Ford Roosevelt, FDR’s grandson aboard the presidential yacht USS Potomac in Jack London Square, Oakland Harbor where Ford serves as Executive Director of the non-profit, Potomac Association.
![USS Potomac walkway](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/040f84f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1274x1125+0+0/resize/880x777!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fad%2F61%2F842a5405464c95b224229375eb87%2Fuss-potomac-walkway.jpeg)
The USS Potomac served as the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Floating White House” from 1936 until his death in 1945.
![The USS Potomac with President Roosevelt and the King and Queen of Great Britain onboard as the ship travels from Washington D.C., to Mount Vernon and back on June 9, 1939.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fba957f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1196x939+0+0/resize/880x691!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbc%2F8b%2Fd2fa55334f2b95768122ab7e1d87%2Fuss-potomac-1939.jpg)
How the USS Potomac came to reside inOakland, California is a fascinating journey.
Following the death of FDR, the vessel spent a ten year stint as a Coast Guard patrol boat, followed by service as a Caribbean ferry, Elvis Presley's private yacht, and a stint as a drug smuggler that ultimately led to its sinking while tied up on Treasure Island.
The Oakland Port Authority purchased the derelict USS Potomac and spent more than fourteen years, and six million dollars painstakingly restoring Roosevelt’s Presidential Yacht.
![USS Potomac, FDR's Presidential yacht cruising under the San Francisco Bay Bridge.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/72ac8ca/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1289x1037+0+0/resize/880x708!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F03%2F57%2F9b3bb4294f30b6499d54fd8cf9ba%2Fuss-potomac-cruising-under-bay-bridge.jpeg)
Today the vessel is a registered National Historic Landmark, permanently berthed at Oakland’s Jack London Square. Maintained by the Potomac Foundation, the historic vessel offers regularly scheduled, and charter San Francisco Bay cruises.
![Correspondent Tom Wilmer (left) with FDR's grandson, Ford Roosevelt, in front of FDR's Presidential yacht USS Potomac berthed on the Jack London Square waterfront in Oakland, California.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c59bb0d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3218x2945+0+0/resize/880x805!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9a%2F09%2F2de8dacb4ccea34e2d80234620c3%2Fuss-potomac.jpeg)
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