1938 Trans-Pacific Travel

One reason Americans' were so "isolationist" before WW II, is it still took quite a while to get anywhere. Today, one can travel from the USA to Manila in a a day. In 1938 it took quite longer. Here is the travel itinerary of a 1938 VIP named Dwight Eisenhower as he traveled from Manila to San Francisco:

June 26th 1938 - Left Manila for Hong Kong
June 28th - Arrived Hong Kong
June 30th - Left for Yokohama Japan
July 5th - Arrived and Left Yokohama Japan for Honolulu
July 13th Arrived and Left Honolulu
July 18th - Arrived San Francisco.

22 Days to get from Manila to SF! And this was by a series of "fast" passenger ships.

However, Ike could have taken the Pan Am "China Clipper". That only took 5 days. But the "Clipper" only flew twice a week with 38 passengers and was rather expensive - $799** one-way (equivalent to the price of a top-line new car).

** Or to use another comparison. The minimum wage in 1938 was 25 cents/hour and a US Sargent made $600/year.

Abe Lincoln Visits to the Army of the Potomac

Apr. 1st 1862
Lincoln goes to Alexandria, Va. - meets with General McClellan,

May 5th - 12th 1862
Lincoln goes to Fortress Monroe, Va. meets with Wool, Burnside and Navy. Does not meet with McClellan

May 22nd - 23rd 1862
Lincoln visits McDowell at Fredericksburg

July 7th - 10th 1862
Lincoln takes boat to Fortress Monroe & Harrison's Landing - visits McClellan and Burnside.

Oct. 1st - 4th .1862
Lincoln visits Gen. McClellan and battlefields in vicinity of Antietam.

Nov. 26th - 27th 1862
Lincoln goes to Aquia Creek - confers with Burnside on steamer Baltimore.

April. 4th - 10th 1863
Visits Hooker and AoP at Falmouth

May 6th - 7th. 1863
Lincoln visits Gen. Hooker and the AoP after defeat at Chancellorsville.

June 20th - 23rd 1864
Lincoln visits Gen. Grant at City Point

July 30th - 31st 1864
Lincoln visits Gen. Grant at Fortress Monroe

March. 23rd - Apr. 6th. 1865

Lincoln visits Gen. Grant at City Point

Apr. 4th - 5th 1865

Lincoln visits the evacuated city of Richmond, Va.

Jefferson Davis - Visits to the Army of Tennessee

Unlike Abe Lincoln, Davis made several long trips to visit the Western Theater. He got out of Richmond and made the following trips to the Army of Tennessee:

• December 9th - January 4th 1863 - Davis leaves Richmond via Lynchburg-Chattanooga and visits Bragg and the AoT at Murfreesboro Tennessee. Later, he goes to Mississippi and confers with Generals Johnston and Van Dorn. Spends December 23-25 in Vicksburg inspecting the defenses. On the way back he visits Mobile, Atlanta, and Charleston.

• October 6- November 7th 1863. Visits Bragg and AoT at Missionary Ridge, later meets with Polk, Forrest in Meridian Mississippi and Joe Johnston and Hardee in Atlanta. Visits troops and makes speeches in Mobile, Selma, Savannah, Charleston, and N.C.

• September 20, 1864 - October 6, 1864. Confers with Hood in Palmetto Georgia and reviews the AoT on September 25-27. Visits Montgomery Alabama & Beauregard in Augusta Ga. Makes speeches in NC and SC.

Abe Lincoln - Living Inside the Beltway Bubble

Reading Lincoln's daily chronology (The Lincoln Log Website), I was amazed at Lincoln's reluctance to travel. Basically, Lincoln spent the whole war in Washington D.C. except for trips to the Army of the Potomac.

Lincoln never visited the Armies of West or conferred with Halleck, Grant, Rosecrans or Sherman in Kentucky, Tennessee or Cairo/St Louis. Further, Lincoln only made 4 visits to the "Home-front" during the war:

• June 23-25 1862 Lincoln took a nine hour train trip to West Point to visit General Scott. Arrives 3 AM June 24th 1862 at West Point. Spends the day with Scott and visiting West Point. Returns to DC, stopping at Jersey City to make an impromptu 10 minute speech;
• November 18-19 1863 - took 5 hour train trip to Gettysburg, spent the night there, and next morning dedicated the cemetery & made the famous Speech. By Midnight he was back in DC;
• April 18-19 1864 - Goes to Baltimore to attend Sanitary Fair and gives speech.
  
• June 16-17 1864 Goes to Philadelphia for 1 day to attend the "Great Central Fair" for the US Sanitary Commission. Leaving DC at 7 AM - he got to Phlly at 11 AM, went the fair, attended the banquet and made a speech. The next day, he left Philly at 8 AM and was back in DC by Noon.

That's all his wartime travel - except trips to visit the AoP and Richmond in April 1865.

By Comparison Jeff Davis made many trips to visit the rest of the Confederacy and the armies of the West.