Ike's Road Trip by Brian C. Black

Author:Brian C. Black [Black, Brian C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
Published: 2024-10-29T05:00:00+00:00

chapter four:

Completing the “Land Armada”

There was clear irony to the fact that after driving three thousand miles across North America, the convoy’s conclusion required the vehicles to be still for the final stretch, jammed unceremoniously onto two ferries that sliced through the quiet San Francisco morning. The harbor area was instrumental to the staging of the final celebratory moments of the truck train.145

On the morning of September 6, the ferries carried the convoy from Oakland Harbor to San Francisco, passing six of the Pacific Fleet’s new destroyers moored nearby. Two of the great ships lifted their anchors and escorted the ferries across the bay. Unloading at the ferry building, the convoy lined up to make the final leg of its historic trek.

Throughout the trip, McClure had filed his daily reports back to Washington out of duty and responsibility; now, though, these reports had become essential to coordinating a grand finale. Behind the scenes, officials were planning a feat of magnificent symbolism. Weeks earlier, the new Pacific Fleet of the US Navy had passed through the Panama Canal, and military leadership at the highest level had engineered timetables so that they would be in San Francisco when the convoy arrived. Despite each breakdown and dour setback captured in McClure’s reports from Wyoming and Nevada, the desire to create a proper symbol for a nation ascendant predominated the convoy’s final moments.

Convoy cyclists guided the party and often rode ahead to prepare the route.

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