The History Room
It would be cool to have a general topic called
Stuff you might not know
This would be an entry from me
History
I got a note today from a pal who told me that FDR used Al Capone's car to be taken to give his famous "Day of Infamy" speech. And YES it is absolutely true.
I am sure you all recall it was after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
FDR used a car called the Sunshine car and it was the well known convertible. It was a Lincoln whereas the Capone car was a Cadillac.
You can check at Wikipedia if you really want all the details.
But I found this part of it to be pretty interesting. Prior to this presidents did not use armored cars. So FDR is the first president to use one should you get asked it as a trivia question.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshin...United_States)
Following Pearl Harbor[edit]
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Secret Service began to express concern in relation to potentialassassination attempts against the president, as his limousine at that time was not armored and had no protective features. The following day, December 8, 1941, a heavily armored 1928 Cadillac 341A Town Sedan, which had originally belonged to gangster Al Capone, was used to transport the president to the Capitol to deliver his "Infamy" speech. The car had been confiscated by the Treasury Department following Capone's arrest and stored in an impound lot until its ironic final duty. Roosevelt used the Capone car until his Sunshine Special was modified to be capable of protecting him, with armor plating for the doors, bullet-proof tires, inch-thick windows and storage compartments for pistols and sub-machine guns. All of the safety modifications increased the car's weight to 9,300 pounds(4,218 kg). Despite these precautions, Roosevelt preferred to ride with the top down during parades and at most public gatherings. The car was also fitted with the then-current 1942 Lincoln front end in 1942 from the Lincoln H-series.
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Originally Posted by darroll
