Last updated: October 17, 2024
Article
The Secret is Out: Code Names for FDR’s Mobility Aids
By Shelby Landmark
In the archives at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Mellon Fellow Shelby Landmark discovered a series of wartime memorandums—in various states of draft—that reveal code names assigned by the Secret Service for ramps that traveled with the president. These ramps were critical for FDR’s mobility; the code names were critical for his protection.
Personal devices like canes, crutches, leg braces, wheelchairs, and customized automobiles did not alone solve the challenges of living in a disabling world. FDR also relied on assistants, elevators, and ramps, at home and abroad. The construction of ramps and speaker stands for the president’s public appearances occurred under the supervision of the Secret Service. The agents outlined detailed plans and instructions regarding the transportation, location, installation, and removal process for the ramps. Details such as height, width, proper incline, railings, finishes, flooring materials, and walking distances were also precisely outlined.
When traveling by train, the Secret Service was responsible for ensuring the initiating railroad provided a ramp compatible with both the president’s private car and the unloading platforms at each destination. The ramps were transported in the baggage car along with FDR’s wheelchairs. In a memorandum regarding FDR’s August 1943 trip to Ottawa, Special Agent Mike Reilly gave the following instructions: “Have two agents in the baggage car who will depart immediately with both of the President’s large wheelchairs.”1
Your message relative Dayton articles (ramps) received and will act accordingly.
For trips requiring radio communication, the Secret Service agents used code names to identify the president and each person traveling in his party. The file for each trip included a key. But it was not just people who received unique code names; they were also used to obscure the time of day, locations, and transportation vehicles, in effort to maintain the highest level of security.
The process for planning these trips is evident in each trip file. Initial drafts were uncoded but always followed with a final draft substituting sensitive information with code names. For example, the November 1943 Tehran file refers to “(ramps)” as “Dayton articles.” Within the same file, Dayton Articles, Daytons, and Articles from Dayton Ohio are used interchangeably. What connection these had to the city in Ohio, if any, I do not yet know.2
U.S. Secret Service Records, 6-1 Trips of the President, Cairo-Teheran, Nov.-Dec. 1943, Folder 2. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Archives.
This is a typed memorandum to Colonel W. T. Sexton for transmission to Colonel Frank McCarthy.
The memorandum is typed in all caps.
Spaman to Reilly. (Spaman and Reilly are crossed out in ink and annotated with Bacon to Aspen). Complete list of Spruce party follows: Beech Cedar Walnut Willow Chestnut Pine Hemlock Bacon Cabby Fagot Behn Deckard Haman Shannon Spicer (unidentified work crossed out with typed exes) George Fox/Prettyman and Warrant Officer Cornelius army. Walnut advises following will accompany us only to point where we leave Holly Esperancilla Orig Abiba Floresca Calinao Enrico Estrada and Ordona. Three fifty fours including one all fixed up will leave tenth with two Dayton articles (the word ramps crossed out with typed exes) for same and I will take third Dayton (the word ramp crossed out with typed exes). These will arrive regal thirteenth and fourteenth. Colonel Stalter who understands Dayton (the word ramp crossed out with typed exes) set up will arrive with first fifty four and Dayton (the word ramp crossed out with typed exes) and your Gereral Melot (crossed out and annotated in pencil with Emloy) will be in contact with Stalter on arrival regal for further instructions from you. Eighty seven A will leave eleventh with Daytons (the word ramps crossed out with typed exes) and arrive regal fifteenth but Willow (unintelligible word crossed out with typed exes) says they prefer same set up as before. I expect to leave eleventh.
Not every code name is identified in the key, and the records are not comprehensive. Therefore, my code-breaking skill was put to the test. Thankfully, context is an allied force. It’s clear from the surviving records that transportation vehicles, like automobiles, airplanes, and rail cars, were designated with numeric codes. Because it is used in conjunction with Dayton (FDR’s ramps), I suspect Fifty Four might be the Secret Service code name for FDR’s wheelchairs. In the transmission illustrated above, and in other documents, there appears to be a relationship between Fifty Fours and FDR’s ramps. And because we know that the Secret Service was also responsible for the transportation of FDR’s wheelchairs, the assignment of a code name would be consistent with their protocol.
U.S. Secret Service Records, 6-1 Trips of the President, Cairo-Teheran, Nov.-Dec. 1943, Folder 2. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Archives.
This is interesting because the Secret Service code names identify not only the people, but also the things that might indicate the president’s arrival and location. In the same memorandum identifying code names for FDR’s ramps and associates, protection of the president is the motive:
“For security reasons, it will be necessary to lower Spruce [FDR] boat from port side and then make gangway to take Pine [Hopkins] and Fox [George Fox] and Cabby [Fredericks] and yourself aboard.”3
The assignment of code names to objects, as well as people, indicates that the Secret Service had reason to believe that ramps and wheelchairs were a dead giveaway for FDR’s presence. This implies, despite what we have been told, that FDR’s disability and his use of mobility devices was, in fact, so well-known as to warrant protective measures by the Secret Service.
Shelby is the Mellon Fellow for Disability Representation at Historic Sites at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site.
Notes
1 Inter-Office Communication from SA Reilly to ASA Spaman. U.S. SS Records, 6-1 Trips of the President, Ottawa Visit, August 25, 1943.
2 See U.S. Secret Service Records, 6-1 Trips of the President, Cairo-Teheran, Nov-Dec, 1943, Folder 3.
3 See U.S. Secret Service Records, 6-1 Trips of the President, Cairo-Teheran, Nov-Dec, 1943, Folder 2.