Aug. 16, 1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrives in Rockland aboard the presidential yacht Potomac.
He recently returned to the United States from a shipboard meeting off the coast of Newfoundland with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
At that meeting, Churchill and Roosevelt drafted the Atlantic Charter, which mapped out the Allied World War II and postwar strategy. (The United States is aiding Britain but would not become one of the fighting nations until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December.)
At Rockland, Roosevelt is evasive at a news conference on his yacht about exactly where he met Churchill or what they discussed.
When Maine’s state police chief lurches forward at the wharf to shake the president’s hand, Secret Service agents who don’t know him nearly knock him into Rockland Harbor.
The president then travels by motorcade to the train station, waving to a cheering throng of people in a city that had voted mostly for his opponent in the previous election.
President Franklin Roosevelt waves to a throng of people who greeted him in 1941 in Rockland after he disembarked from the presidential yacht Potomac after his historic sea meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The chief executive was tanned and refreshed after his 13 days at sea. He would not disclose the meeting place. Associated Press
Presented by:
Joseph Owen is an author, retired newspaper editor and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. Owen’s book, “This Day in Maine,” can be ordered at islandportpress.com. To get a signed copy use promo code signedbyjoe at checkout. Joe can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.
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