President Bush?s newest mode of transportation is dubbed “Golf Cart One,” a zippy four-wheeler that he used on Friday to tool around Camp David with the prime minister of Denmark.
The appearance of the vehicle added a new chapter in the story of planes, helicopters and even bicycles that have transported presidents throughout the years. All have been given names that end in the word “one.” It began in1953, when the plane used to transport President Dwight Eisenhower was dubbed “Air Force One.” When presidents began using helicopters operated by the Marine Corps, they became known as “Marine One.”
On May 1, 2003, the term “Navy One” was employed for the first time when Bush helped pilot a Navy plane onto an aircraft carrier for a victory speech about Iraq. Democrats later accused him of prematurely declaring an end to major combat operations.
In 2004, Bush took up the sport of mountain biking at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. A fan of the Tour de France, he was intrigued to learn that the scrum of bicyclists hurtling along country roads was called a “peloton,” which is French for a tightly bunched group of athletes. So the president began calling his own bicycling entourage, which included Secret Service agents, “Peloton One.”
Bush?s newest set of wheels has a “Golf Cart One” sign across the front of the vehicle, bracketed by small presidential seals. It?s one of the few vehicles Bush has been able to drive since taking office in 2001.
The other vehicle he has been seen driving is a white truck on his ranch, although it was not known whether he planned to name it “Pickup One.”
