^{Images: Courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York}

Provincetown’s History Told Through Artifacts

by Steve Desroches 

When it comes to presidential visits, Provincetown, for a tiny town, has had its fair share. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Ulysses S. Grant all came while in office. And John F. Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Jimmy Carter all visited before heading to the White House, while Grover Cleveland came in between his two non-consecutive terms. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt almost joined that group, but a last minute decision changed that, leaving behind disappointed townspeople. In June of 1933 Roosevelt took a sailing trip to take a break and celebrate his first 100 days in office of his first term as President. Along with his three sons, family friends, and at times Eleanor, he sailed the Amberjack II, a 45-foot schooner from Marion, Massachusetts, over to Nantucket and then around Cape Cod up the coast of Maine to Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, where Roosevelt and many in the Delano family had summer cottages. The President frustrated his staff and the Secret Service by making unscheduled stops and last-minute changes to his schedule. He was meant to stop in Provincetown, and in preparation, the community took up a collection to buy a model of the clipper ship Rainbow, which was owned by the President’s ancestors. It was well known at the time that Roosevelt collected model ships and the Rainbow was well known in history, as it vanished without a trace in 1848 in the Pacific. Provincetown lawyer John C. Weeks was chosen to present the model to the President, but as it went, gave it to Secret Service agents instead, as Roosevelt never got closer to Provincetown than 12 miles out at sea as he passed by. Covering the voyage, Time magazine wrote in its July 3, 1933 issue:

“Skipper Roosevelt was coasting up Cape Cod toward the Pilgrim Tower at its tip when the Bernadou sped up from behind, put Assistant Secretary of State Moley aboard the Amberjack II for an hour’s talk with the President. Mumbling polite nothings to the Press, Braintruster Moley flew off in a blue Naval seaplane for New York where he sailed next day for the London Economic Conference.

At Provincetown citizens gathered to greet the President, give him an expensive ship’s model. But said Skipper Roosevelt to his crew: “Let’s fool the Press and go on to Gloucester without stopping.” So on they went, driving through the rough dark to drop the hook at midnight.”

In a letter dated June 26, 1933 from Roque Island Harbor, Maine, the President (or more likely an assistant) wrote to Weeks to thank him for the present saying, “It was a very thoughtful gift from the people of Provincetown, for, as you know, I take great interest in ships and ship models and have spent many happy hours with my collection to which the “Rainbow” becomes a valuable addition.”

The model of the Rainbow as well as President Roosevelt’s entire collection is held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.