Thanks also to the Green Line Cafe in West Philadelphia, where so much of this book was written and edited.
A number of friends have taken the time to read and critique portions of the manuscript in its various iterations: thank you Travis Logan, Andrew Kelly, Reverend Sean Mullen, Gregory Nickerson, Bryan Fields, and Andrew Fink for your proofreading and editorial suggestions.
Thanks also to my professors at Harvard College and the Penn School of Design, who taught me how to think and write about the history of the built environment: the late William Gienapp, Stephan Thernstrom, Brian Domitrovic, Randall Mason, John C. Keene, Frank Matero, and Donovan Rypkema.
The Board of the SS United States Conservancy has become my extended family. In July 2010, a $5.8 million grant from philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest (USNR retired) saved the ship from certain destruction. Hats off to Dan McSweeney, Susan Gibbs (granddaughter of William Francis), Jeff Henry, Mark Perry, Joe Rota, Greg Norris, and the rest of the board for taking on the immense challenge of saving an irreplaceable American treasure. The determination of Judge Thomas Watkins and the vision of Gerry Lenfest have given the United States a new lease on life. The Conservancy is now faced with the biggest and most challenging historic preservation project in America today.
I must acknowledge the residents of a special seaside community on the South Shore of Massachusetts, my writing (and procrastination) haven for the past several summers. Thanks especially to Captain Peter B. Adams and his sister Ramelle Adams—direct descendants of President John Adams, founder of the American Navy. Peter and Ramelle’s careful reading of the manuscript greatly improved its clarity and flow.
My father and mother, Grant and Amy Ujifusa, have always supported my interests in ships and the sea. Their love for me made the book possible. I regret that my paternal grandparents Mary and Tom Ujifusa, who for years lived and worked on a Wyoming farm, did not live to see the completion of my manuscript; I thank them for the work ethic that they instilled in me. Likewise, my late maternal grandfather Jerry Brooks and step-grandfather Joe Follmann had deep interests in history, music, and the arts that I absorbed as a member of the family. My journalist brother Andrew provided me with excellent advice about how to write sentences that conveyed precise meaning. My youngest brother, John, the builder in the family, continues the great American tradition of making great things. My uncle Jeffrey Brooks, professor of history at Johns Hopkins, has been a constant source of inspiration.
I want to dedicate my book to my grandmother Judith Follmann, world traveler and lady of culture who first introduced me to the story of the Titanic when I was six. It was with her that I first spotted the faded SS United States while we sped across the Walt Whitman Bridge in 1996. My grandmother is now ninety-five, and I love her very much. I am proud to have walked the same decks my grandmother did over half a century ago, when she was a passenger on the finest, fastest, most beautiful ship ever built.
Index
Acheson, Dean, 276
Adams, Henry, 9
Admiralty, British, 24, 25, 52, 53, 154, 165
advertising, 122–23, 125–26, 186
African-Americans, 103, 278, 322, 330
Ahrens, Captain, 164
air conditioning, 259, 275, 296
aircraft carriers, 7n, 107, 174, 225–27, 244, 335
Air Force, U.S., 219, 235–36
airplanes, 98, 117, 121, 129, 147, 226, 351, 354, 356, 366
transatlantic flights of, 159–61, 214–15, 293, 334, 344–48
airships, 160
alcohol, 131, 265, 288, 330, 341
Prohibition and, 90, 91, 115, 119, 154
Alessandrelli, Asterio, 305–6
Alexanderson, Leroy, 349, 350, 353
aluminum, 200, 201, 269
construction dilemmas with, 237–38
in United States, 237–40, 246, 248, 249, 251, 253, 256, 271, 362
Ambrose Lightship, 7, 121, 136, 137, 297, 298, 314
America, 106, 156–58, 163, 198, 203, 278, 362, 367
christening of, 161
crew of, 274, 275–76
hull of, 200
interior decoration of, 158, 212, 234, 235, 247, 251, 254
post–World War II, 212, 213
prismatic coefficient of, 200
sale of, 349
United States’ passing of, 305, 306, 329
in World War II, 169, 180
America (proposed sister ship to United States), 336, 337
American (mythical transatlantic superliner), 137
American Alkali Company, 22, 23, 33, 189
American Bridge Company, 178
American Federation of Labor, 94
American Line, 11, 16, 24, 39, 94, 106, 279
American Place Theater, 344
American Steamship Company, 10–11
Amerika, 9, 74, 77, 96
Anderson, John, 318, 323, 327, 349
Andrea Doria, 213, 332–34
Andrews, Adolphus, 175
Andrews, Thomas, 40, 41, 45
Annenberg, Leonore, 326
Annenberg, Walter, 326
anti-Nazi rioters, 153, 154
Anything Goes (musical), 137
Aquitania, 97, 114, 116, 122, 164, 165, 273
Arizona, USS, 55, 141
Army, U.S., 75, 89, 175, 186, 213, 219, 342
band of, 244, 245
Transportation Corps of, 197
United States seizure and, 235–36
Army Tank Corps, U.S., 301st Battalion of, 65–68, 197, 280
Arnold, Matthew, 266
Art Deco style, 115, 121, 158, 174, 212, 214, 255
artwork, 158, 174, 205, 214, 328
of United States, 246, 249–50, 251, 253, 255, 257, 259, 268, 270, 295, 308, 357
see also murals; sculpture
asbestos, 158, 248, 249, 357–58
“Aspects of Large Passenger Liner Design” (Bates), 208
Astor, Ava, 38
Astor, Brooke Russell, 295n, 348
Astor, Caroline Schermerhorn, 37–38
Astor, John Jacob, I, 38
Astor, John Jacob, IV, 37, 38, 46–47, 247
Astor, Madeleine Force, 38
Astor, Minnie, 295
Astor, Vincent, 47, 89, 114, 247
death of, 348
FDR’s friendship with, 155
Titanic disaster and, 37–38, 47, 291
United States Lines and, 127, 128, 154, 197, 206, 215, 217, 221, 291, 294, 348
United States’ maiden voyage and, 295
United States’ trials and, 264, 266
Atlantic Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines, 132–33
Atlantic Ocean, 173, 214, 251, 292, 299, 316, 328, 339, 340, 361, 366, 367
see also Blue Riband of the Atlantic; North Atlantic; South Atlantic
atomic bomb, 198, 226
Audubon Society, 365
Augusta, USS, 331
Australia, 367
automobiles, 326, 341, 342
Babcock & Wilcox, 138–39, 231
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 28, 194
Bachman, Walter, 202, 209, 210, 226, 263, 264, 308
E. Kaplan’s relationship with, 232
on Gibbs, 321, 322
Bahamas, 154, 249
Balfour, Arthur, 24
ballast tanks, 201–2
Ballin, Albert, 9, 18, 24, 39