If you presume to baffle out your thumb and hitch , you never know who ’s going to be behind the wheel . It could be a form unusual . It could be a serial orca . It could beLarry David . And , if you lived in the D.C. area in the 1950s , it could have been the President of the United States .
In December 1954 , thirty-fourth U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie were on their way to Catoctin Mountain , base of the presidential retreat Camp David , when theyspottedtwo Marines front for a face lifting . When Eisenhower direct his chief of Secret Service to look into , he discovered that both human being were traveling home after spend clip at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville , North Carolina . Pvt . Harold D. Payne , 20 , was point to Akron , Ohio , while Pvt . William L. Weaver , 19 , was snuff it to Dewitt , Michigan .
The young men skip in , though they did n’t get to hinge upon in the car with the Eisenhowers themselves . The Marines had to make do with a Navy physician and the president ’s personal valet for company . The presidential motorcade was capable to take the men about 40 miles before they had to go their separate ways .
It was n’t the only fourth dimension the president tender his assistance . In December 1957 , Eisenhower wastravelingfrom D.C. to his farm in Gettysburg when he befall across airman second division Jerry Beswick with his thumb out . Beswick was head back to his Air Force Base in Syracuse after a misstep home , and the President of the United States cipher it was only appropriate to help the serviceman out — and this time , he vagabond down the window and made the offer himself . “ I opine we ’d give you a elevator , ” hetoldthe surprised airman . Like the previous hitchhiker , Beswick was assigned to the car carrying the presidential medico . He conk at the farm in Gettysburg with a heck of a story to order when he get home .
