Loon Point Beach – Carpinteria, CA
August 26, 2026Cruising San Francisco Bay on FDR’s Floating White House
Presidential Yacht USS Potomac – Oakland, CA
Visited: July 2026
Since her retirement, Tracy has eased into the roll of social coordinator for Travels With Mai Tai Tom, finding new things for us to explore so I don’t become a sedentary, old geezer. When she learned that Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential yacht was available for tours and a cruise of San Francisco Bay, another adventure was launched.
I mentioned our upcoming trip to my friend Tim, who related that a friend of his was a docent on the yacht. So, on a beautiful Bay Area July morning, Tim and his wife Sheila, along with Kim and Mary, joined us in Oakland’s Jack London Square, nearby where the USS Potomac is docked.
Before boarding the Potomac, we watched a film documenting the fascinating history of the vessel on its journey from Coast Guard Cutter to National Historic Landmark.
Built in 1934 as the Coast Guard Cutter Electra, two years later the 165-foot long ship was renamed the USS Potomac and converted for Roosevelt as a presidential yacht dubbed, The Floating White House. After President Roosevelt’s death in 1945, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decommissioned the Potomac, and her long decline began.
The yacht was used by the state of Maryland until 1960 and then sold and used as a ferryboat between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In 1962, the vessel was acquired and made her way to Los Angeles where she was retrofitted and displayed in Redondo Beach.
Unable to insure the Potomac any longer, it was sold in 1964 at auction for $55,000 to Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel (although he wasn’t really a colonel) Tom Parker, who acquired the yacht in Presley’s name for tax benefits and publicity.
Elvis wanted to donate it to one of his favorite charities, The March of Dimes, but they kindly declined the offer. A mere two weeks later, Elvis gifted the yacht to Danny Thomas for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. St. Jude’s board of directors contemplated selling it as scrap, but instead sold it a month later to a Los Angeles attorney for $75,000, raising funds for children’s medical research.
In later years, she was used by drug smugglers and in 1980 was seized and impounded at Treasure Island, where she sunk. The Potomac was raised and was just a week away from being sold for scrap when the Port of Oakland purchased the ship for $15,000. The newly formed Potomac Association raised $5 million and restoration efforts began. After 12 years, in 1995 the yacht was opened to the public as a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a classroom and museum and for tours.
As we prepared to board, I remembered that Mary was a little worried about getting seasick on the choppy seas. In an attempt to calm her, I said, “Mary, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” A joke that will no doubt live in infamy.
After boarding the Potomac, we went up top to listen to commentary from a loud speaker and soak up the Northern California sunshine. We couldn’t have picked a nicer day. The yacht can accommodate up to about 120 people.
Heading out to sea, we glided by a United States Navy Expeditionary Transfer Dock ship named after John Glenn. I felt really old when the man on the loudspeaker had to explain who John Glenn was, along with his his myriad of accomplishments.
We ventured below deck to check out some of the different areas of the USS Potomac. Roosevelt had preferred this all-steel ship to his wooden presidential yacht, Sequoia, due his fear of fire. USS Potomac could also be utilized better by the president because of safety features implemented to help his limited mobility from polio. He used this yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945.
We stopped by the Radio Room, where he gave one of his famed Fireside Chats to the nation.
In the typewriter was a copy of a letter he sent out to Adolph Hitler (along with his response) following the crash of the Hindenberg.
Walking past the restored engine room, we were advised not to enter due to noise (and fear of me plummeting to my ultimate demise).
Around the corner from the engine room was a place to get my engines going. Hey, it’s a two-hour cruise. (Note: they also occasionally have a three-hour lunch cruise, but having a Gilligan’s Island flashback when purchasing the tickets, I opted for the two hour cruise.)
Tracy and I walked to the Potomac’s bow and were met by hurricane force winds (only slightly exaggerating). I would have stood on the left, but they didn’t sell any port.
Taking the sea-nic route, the views toward San Francisco were glorious.
Walking the length of the Potomac, we visited the Afterdeck (also called the Fantail), a place Roosevelt liked to hang out and entertain his guests, along with kibbitzing with the press. He would host informal meetings with world leaders in this part of the ship.
From WhiteHouseHistory.org, “One of the most well-known prewar uses of the boat occurred during the June 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain.” That was the first time reigning British monarchs had ever traveled to the United States. The USS Potomac took Roosevelt along with the king and queen to George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.
The Fantail was where the president might enjoy a cocktail, while reading and fishing, many times with a four-legged friend we’d learn about later.
Speaking of cocktails, there’s a small bar onboard where the President loved to host his guests, and he particularly enjoyed being the bartender and mixing martinis for them. One problem, unbeknownst to the president, apparently he made terrible martinis, but no one had the courage to tell that to his face.
Both the president and his guests had modest (to say the least) living quarters.
Three guest cabins were added during the 1936 modifications.
Loved the radio!
A stainless-steel bathtub was installed to help Roosevelt cope with his limited mobility.
We caught up with Tim and Sheila in the sleeping quarters of the enlisted crew. The berths were four deep with barely enough room to sit up.
It was deemed an honor to be part of the presidential crew, which included 42 enlisted personnel, two officers and 12 Filipino service staff members. 
Back up top, we were greeted by fresh air and a nearby sailboat which was traveling at a good clip as the wind on the bay had picked up even more.
On board is the Chris-Craft boat named “Fala,” which honors Roosevelt’s much loved Scottish Terrier, who enjoyed his rides on the USS Potomac. The Secret Service nicknamed Fala “The Informer,” because wherever the president decided to go, the dog was there too. (photo of Fala – National Archives)
From ship records, it seemed Fala sometimes would have “accidents” aboard ship that needed cleaning, which brings a whole new meaning to the Poop Deck.
MaiTaiTom Fun Fact: Fala became so popular during WWII that he had to have a dedicated secretary to answer all his fan mail. And from Wikipedia, “When Fala passed away in 1952, he was buried near the President in the Rose Garden at the Springwood estate. He remains the only presidential pet honored with a statue on the National Mall, depicted alongside FDR at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.” Take that Checkers!
There was one more cool tidbit we learned courtesy of Tim’s docent friend. To accommodate the president’s wheelchair, a concealed elevator was installed in a funnel to carry the president up to the boat deck. The docent told us that the elevator had a rope pulley which the president used to pull himself up to the boat deck. He had great upper body strength and tried to be as self-sufficient as possible.
In 1941, four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the ship was used as a decoy to cover FDR’s secret trip to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill where they drafted the Atlantic Charter which was a joint declaration of the two country’s war aims. Our docent told us that a person disguised as FDR, including his telltale cigarette holder, cruised the Potomac River in FDR’s absence.
We got a glimpse of Alcatraz, but we did not see anyone attempting to escape.
As we traveled near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the voice on the intercom told the passengers to look under the bridge as we passed through, and be on the lookout for a “secret troll.” After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, a metalworker welded a 3-foot tall figure under the bridge as a good luck charm to protect travelers from harm. When the old bridge span was torn down, a “new troll was secretly installed on the modern eastern span on Labor Day in 2013.” So now it can be called a troll bridge.
For the remainder of our cruise, we basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the views. As Fala might have barked, it was a perfect dog day afternoon. 
Looking at this picture of Kim and Mary, I thought he had bought some fake Groucho eyebrows, but Tracy told me they were only his sunglasses.
Our journey was nearly complete.
Tim’s friend took timeout from his duties to snap this picture of our motley crew before we reached shore. Ah, friend-ships!
The USS Potomac turned out to be quite a cool and enlightening experience, and even if you’re not a history buff, a two hour cruise with views of San Francisco makes for quite an enjoyable day. Check out the website for days it cruises (late April to Veterans Day), and for special events like the Fleet Week Blue Angels Show, the Elvis Tribute cruise or the Holiday Lights and Santa Cruise.
Presidential Yacht USS Potomac
540 Water Street
Oakland, CA 94607
510.627.1215
https://usspotomac.org/
Paid Parking: Available nearby at the Port of Oakland facilities and the local parking garage Jack London’s Waterfront Parking Garage (101 Clay Street).
