July 10 1934 Ship Cover noting the visit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board the USS Houston in Cartagena Harbor, Columbia.
On July 10th 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) became the first U.S. president to visit South America when, at 9:30 a.m., the heavy cruiser USS Houston, along with her destroyer escorts, arrived off the entrance to Cartagena Harbor. Two Colombian destroyers, accompanied by military planes, escorted the American squadron to the anchorage.
President Roosevelt had boarded the USS Houston on July 1 at Annapolis, Maryland, for a working vacation cruise of nearly 12,000 nautical miles. The ship sailed through the Caribbean, to Columbia, returning to the continental United States via Hawaii and finally docked at Portland, Oregon.
Arriving in Cartegena, Colombian, FDR became the first U.S. president to visit South America. Columbian President Enrique Olaya Herrara (1880-1937), along with his entourage, came aboard the Houston at noon for a lunch hosted by FDR.
As a momento of this historic date, as was the custom of the day, a Postal Cover was produced in the ship mail room with the date enshrined in a dated ship cancel, shown here dating back over 80 years from the event.
