Presidential Visits 3

         The next presidential visit we discuss is a president who would be on most people’s corrupt president’s list: Richard Nixon. The visit came well before the Watergate Scandal when Nixon was still viewed favorably by most of America. It was October 08, 1970 and President Nixon was here to celebrate the opening of a new research center on Skidaway Island. The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SKIO) was established in 1967. Robert Roebling, grandson of John Roebling the engineer for the Brooklyn Bridge, donated his cattle farm on the north end of Skidaway Island. His family wanted an ocean research institute for the east coast as they already had on the west coast of the United States. In 2013 SKIO merged with the University of Georgia. Today international researchers study the ocean, especially Grey’s Reef, and other marine concerns on the 700 acres of facilities with a research ship available for extended stays at sea.
           President Nixon was onboard the "Royal Eagle” sitting with Roebling as he embarked from Savannah as a crowd of people see him off the Savannah River. At Skidaway Island, patriotic music could be heard in the background as Nixon disembarks with his wife, his daughter Julie and his son-in-law David Eisenhower, grandson of president Dwight D. Eisenhower. He began his speech with comments on his invitation to Savannah by both the two gubernatorial candidates Hal Suit and governor Lester Maddox, in an effort to calm fears he was taking sides in the Georgia governor’s race he called the event bipartisan.
           Nixon’s speech consists of presenting his policies of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. He states his goal to end the war "in a way that serves the peace, that builds the peace, that discourages aggression and that's what we're doing in Vietnam and we're going to accomplish it." This was an easy presidential visit compare to the post-Watergate years. SKIO continues to be an outstanding institution leading in the field of oceanographic research today. The facilities have for the public a small educational aquarium, nature trail through the woods, pier, and a research shack that has been turned into a museum about the property under the Roeblings.  It is one of the little gems of Savannah not in the historic district.
​Here is the site for SKIO and MAREX 
          
​         Georgia has had only one President come from the state. James Earl Carter Jr. was a devout Baptist, nuclear engineer, peanut farmer and president. One of my memories of him is driving by his new church Maranatha after he had been president. I was planning to attend his Sunday School class the next day and wanted to be sure where the church was since there would be a huge crowd to know where the church was located. As I drove up I saw two men with short hair, guns strapped to their waists, white shirts, black ties leaning on a black sedan (secret service agents). In the yard was the man himself Jimmy Carter on a riding lawn mower cutting the large lawn in front of the church. It spoke of the humility and determination to never lose touch with the common the Nobel Peace Prize winner wished to maintain.
        But I digress. Carter of course as governor came to Savannah several times to campaign and raise money. Interestingly, the teetotaler seemed always to go to legendary Pinkie Masters a once legendary dive bar in the historic district of Savannah. It was here he had announced his candidacy for governor. Pinkies was opened in the 1950s by Luis Christopher Masterpolis. It was called Pinkie Masters because that was the nickname of Masterpolis. Carter often made visits there because Masterpolis was one of his first supporters. Carter said Pinkie Masters helped him carry Chatham County in each election.
           On the evening before St. Patrick’s Day 1978, now President Jimmy Carter was in Savannah to speak before the Hibernia Society. But as usual he went to the bar unfortunately his old friend Masterpolis had died a few months before. Entering under the back-lit plastic Pabst Blue Ribbon sign he climbed on top of the bar as in days past. The customers that night had a story to tell. A plaque on the wall declared that Carter first announced his run for president from this same spot.
    In the speech before the Hibernia Society that night Carter stated “…there's only one city in Georgia about which I've ever made this statement: Savannah's my favorite city of all, because you present to Georgia and to the rest of the world a unique and very fine combination of pride in the past—preserving what's right and decent and enjoyable and harmonious and inspirational—with no fear of the future and making the most of the present. And I'm very proud that you've invited me as President of the United States to come back and share this honor with you.” Carter’s visit does not necessarily stand out in the annals of history but helps to show the simple charm that helped elect him president.