1906 White Steamer

The White Steam Car was one of the first automobiles used during an American presidency. In 1909, William Howard Taft, our 27th president, became the first president to use an automobile while in the White House; before President Taft, horses and carriages were used to transport our presidents. Taft was quite a fan of automobiles, but not everyone approved of automobiles in the early 1900s. In fact, there were people who protested the purchase of automobiles for the White House! Even so, President Taft regularly rode in the White House automobiles, and he also converted the horse stables to a garage in order to store the vehicles. The newspapers closely followed the use of automobiles in The White House. President Taft attended auto shows, where his picture was taken and his presence helped to popularize automobiles. He rode in automobiles in parades, too. It can be said that our 27th President, President William Howard Taft, through his powerful position and great enthusiasm for automobiles, helped the relatively new innovation that was the automobile become more popular and widely accepted in our country and all around the world.

Like the 1902 Locomobile, the White Steamer runs on steam. It would be years before consumers decided they preferred gasoline cars over steam cars. The White Steamer is regarded as a very high-quality automobile. Like other automobiles of the time, it was hand-crafted and very expensive. White automobiles had a reputation for being well-built and reliable cars.