For some members of the political elite, the car is an authentic passion. For all of them, it is an image “vehicle” for themselves and the country they represent. In our collective memory, we associate Lincoln with Kennedy, Citroën with De Gaulle and ZIL with Soviet heads of state. These cars became symbols of political power and status-confirming attributes designed to impress.
Heads of State have always wanted to turn heads and there’s no better way to signal to the masses that you have power and authority than to be seen in the right coach.
The British royal family adopted their first Rolls-Royce – a Phantom IV – in 1950, after 53 years using Daimler vehicles. Three years later, this model became the vehicle of choice of Elizabeth II, whose solid-silver statue of Saint George took the place of the traditional Spirit of Ecstasy. The Queen sold her Daimlers in 1958 for other Rolls-Royces, the prestigious make that the British royal family continues to favor today.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt adored cars. He had quite a collection in the 1930s, including nine Packards. Paralyzed from the waist down, FDR drove cars with manual controls. During President Truman’s presidency, Lincolns, equipped with air conditioning, interphone and radio, were the vehicles to be seen in. His successor, Eisenhower, was a Cadillac man, totting up a total of 36 vehicles during his time as president.
Sadly, the USA’s most famous presidential car remains the Lincoln Continental in which President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas. This tragic event should not allow us to forget how spectacular this model was, with its removable roof, power windows and telephone, along with a rail for standing positions and night-lit presidential emblems. All subsequent US presidential cars were armored. Nixon used the vehicles of his predecessors, especially convertibles for contact with the public. George W. Bush is chauffeured around in a stretched, raised and armored Cadillac DTS – under the eagle eye of the Secret Service.
The automobile first took off in France and its leaders were early adopters. The first French president to use an official vehicle was Raymond Poincaré in 1913. By the early 20s, a slew of carmakers were vying for the presidential palace, including Delaunay, Belleville and Panhard, with aerospace pioneer Gabriel Voisin the first to supply government vehicles. At the end of the 20s, Renault’s 8-cylinder Reinastella was featuring prominently in official parades.
President René Coty travelled Citroën-style in a Traction 15CV limousine featuring hydro-pneumatic suspension and low-cut windows so that the president could enjoy maximum crowd visibility without having to stand up. But it was the election of his successor Charles de Gaulle in 1958 that really marked the beginning of the presidential Citroën era. De Gaulle asked Citroën to manage all his official trips on an exclusive basis, even if he also used presidential Simcas, based on the Simca V8. He owned Type 11 and 15 models, but always preferred the DS over all other cars. “The general loved it. After the assassination attempt in Le Petit Clamart in 1962, he even refused to travel in an armored Rambler. He wanted his DS,” explains Roland Biache, head of official parades at PSA Peugeot Citroën. “It is true that the DS is hands down the most legendary French presidential car,” he adds.
The DS has celebrated its 50th anniversary. During 20 years of production, from 1955 to 1975, Citroën manufactured 1,456,115 DS vehicles. Though chosen late on, the DS (pronounced “déesse”, or French for “goddess”) was one of General De Gaulle’s favorite cars. Everybody in France remembers the assassination attempt on De Gaulle’s life by opponents of Algerian independence in Le Petit Clamart on 22 August 1962. The president came out unscathed, getting down in time to avoid the 13 bullets that hit his DS 19. Also, his driver Francis Marroux had the presence of mind to shift down from 4th to 3rd gear, to give the vehicle the necessary oomph. The qualities of the DS also mattered, with the vehicle remaining stable while accelerating on a rain-soaked poorly-surfaced road with two flat tires. Any other automobile around at that time would probably have gone head over heels in such conditions. The incident appears to have reaffirmed De Gaulle’s taste for Citroëns. He remained a loyal customer.
While the automobile may have been a capitalist tool these symbols of power weren’t ignored in the Soviet Union. Ironically, the Czarist Russian premier Lenin got around town in foreign makes, including 10 Rolls Royces. This was largely due to the fact that the automobile industry was virtually nonexistent. By the time Stalin entered the picture there was a national car and he made it the pride of the Soviet nation: the Buick-influenced ZIS, or Zavod Imeni Stalina (“Stalin’s Factory”). As part of Khruschev’s de-Stalinization program, it was renamed Zavod Imeni Likhatcheva, after the name of the factory director. Brezhnev also used the ZIL, which is still manufactured today, but he owned a Citroën SM, too. Russia’s current leader, Vladimir Putin, prefers black Mercedes limousines.
In 1950, as part of the first five-year plan, China decided to build an automotive production plant. The first buses rolled off the production line in 1956, followed shortly afterwards by cars. The first prestige vehicle, the Red Flag, was produced in 1958 on the base of a Chrysler Imperial. The Red Flag became the official car of Chinese heads of state, and their guests, in 1965. In 1972, Prime Minister Zhou Enlai refused Nixon’s request to bring his own car along on his first visit to China, telling the US president he would be received in the best car in the world. Before he started using a Red Flag, Mao Zedong drove around in a ZIS, courtesy of Stalin. Production of the Red Flag came to an end in 1983, and today’s president, Hu Jingtao, travels in an armored Audi A8.
The automobile is still the symbol of power and authority. It is the manifestation of what we want the world to believe about ourselves. Someday it might be fun to see a world leader tooling around in a Mini, a classic Ferrari or maybe a Prius.
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