Air Force One, Rides On
Recently Added Spoils
The commander in chief’s personal Boeing 747— equipped with a sofa, two kitchens that can turn out gourmet meals, and myriad other amenities — is one of the office’s most prestigious perquisites. For campaign contributors, though, an invitation to fly with the president means more than just a chance to travel in luxury: It’s a precious opportunity to score extended face time with the Prez in an intimate, casual setting. Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1983 to 1989, tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Reagan White House to allow groups of contributors to tour the aircraft whenever it was parked at local airports. (He also wanted to give them Air Force One napkins and other souvenirs to take home.) On at least one occasion, President Jimmy Carter treated the wife of a campaign contributor to an onboard meal, and on another occasion two donors got a ride to a $1,000-a-plate Democratic National Committee fund-raising gala in New York. President George H.W. Bush, who loved Air Force One so much that he sometimes slept in the plane on the night before a trip, also took contributors along on flights. But President Bill Clinton may have been the first to make extensive use of Air Force One to reward donors. A 1994 memo from David Wilhelm, the chairman of the DNC, advocated reserving two seats on the aircraft for campaign contributors. Clinton didn’t meet that quota, but in 1995 and 1996, he did host 56 contributors on the 103 flights that he took on Air Force One and Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. The guest list included such deep-pocketed Democratic donors as international diamond dealer Maurice Tempelsman, the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who flew with Clinton in 1995 to Moscow.
SOURCES: Joe Havely, “Air Force One: ‘The Flying White House,’” CNN, November 20, 2003; “National Geographic Lifts Veil on Air Force One,” National Geographic News, December 15, 2005; Maxine Cheshire, “D.C. Gambling Kingpin Is Linked to Prominent Investors’ Casino Deal,” The Washington Post, January 26 1978; Don Balz and Lou Cannon, “Under Clinton, Old Practices on a New Scale,” The Washington Post, March 3, 1997; John F. Berry, “Why the White House Is Mean to Ed Gregory,” The Washington Post, April 19, 1978; Ed Henry, “Levin Isn’t Laughing at Government Affairs Joke; He Wants To Probe 1992 GOP Contributions,” Roll Call, August 14, 1997; “What Money Buys,” NOW with Bill Moyers, February 14, 2003; William Douglas, “Air Force One Reward Program,” Newsday, April 15, 1997; Susan Schmidt, “DNC Donor With an Eye On Diamonds,” The Washington Post, August 2, 1997.
Previous spoils: Ambassadorships
Next spoils: Cabinet Posts