SHIPS OF STATE, PACIFIC STYLE: The PRESIDENT JACKSON-CLASS OF 1940
Presented by Wayne Yanda
November 20, 2020 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Eighty years ago, November 1940 marked the debut of the PRESIDENT JACKSON, the first of seven round-the-world passenger-cargo liners designed to help American President Lines rise from the ashes of the Dollar Line. The JACKSON-class was also tasked with stemming the insurgence of the Japanese Merchant Marine, represented by the NYK Line and OSK Line.
Wayne Yanda described the trans-Pacific rivalry of the United States and Japan during the interwar years, and how it led to the creation of the PRESIDENT JACKSON-class of 1940. He described the nationwide mural competition, fraught with conflict, held to decorate these little liners, and shared rarely seen images of ships from both sides of the Pacific. And Wayne made the case for why the PRESIDENT JACKSON-class, weighing in at just 9,500 gross tons, can claim the moniker “ship of state.”
A few years ago, Wayne Yanda took his interest in ocean liners and the arts and launched the website muralsonthehighseas.com, dedicated to the artworks created for American-built passenger ships. Every other Monday, on the website’s Facebook page, he publishes a Mural Monday, a brief look at an artist’s life and their work for an American liner. He currently works at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa.
(Image: Wayne Yanda Collection/National Archives)