FOCUS: Roosevelt could see Charleston’s popularity coming 80 years ago

Roosevelt gets a farewell from the captain of the USS Indianapolis when departing the vessel in Charleston on Dec. 15, 1936 following a cruise to South America. Photo from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  When Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as assistant secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920, he made several trips to Charleston to help “to build up, to some degree at least, this splendid Navy Yard in Charleston,” he recalled years later as president.

These days, the shuttered Navy Yard is a beehive of private and government activity as the North Charleston industrial area continues to redevelop.  And the Navy’s presence continues to loom large with thousands of highly-trained specialists working at SPAWAR and in other facilities.

Back in 1935, Roosevelt landed in Charleston aboard the USS Houston after a fishing vacation in the Pacific and Caribbean.  He made short remarks in Charleston during a visit to The Citadel and “old memories came back,” according to a transcript.  He was introduced by Gov. Olin Johnston, who was introduced by Charleston Mayor Burnett Maybank.

Roosevelt aboard the USS Houston in Charleston on March 3, 1939. Photo courtesy the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.

Of particular interest today is what Roosevelt said about the old city, then at the center of a growing national preservation movement.  As noted by the National Park Service, “For the first time groups or areas of buildings were designated as significant and worthy of protection. The blending of planning and preservation goals was unique and a revolutionary concept for its time.”

In the midst of the Depression, Roosevelt radiated confidence during his stop at The Citadel.  What he said about preservation is something to remember today:

“I shall always bear with me a very happy recollection of this coming back home, back into our country, and a very happy recollection of all the kind things you have said and that you have done, of your coming out to greet me, of my opportunity once more to see this historic city, to see those delightful and splendid old homes – homes that belong not just to you who are fortunate to live in Charleston, but homes and churches and public buildings that belong to all of us Americans, all of us who care for the great traditions of the United States.

“I hope you will always keep those homes, keep them for yourselves and keep them for your fellow countrymen as you would keep the splendid traditions of Charleston and the splendid traditions of South Carolina.  I know that more and more people all over the United States are going to come to visit you just as your welcome today makes me want to come back every possible chance that I may get.”

Roosevelt later visited Charleston in 1936 and 1939, also by ship due to cruises during times of presidential travel much different than today’s world connected quickly by big jets.

• For more on Roosevelt and his administration, check the FRANKLIN search engine in the FDR Library’s Digital Collections.
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