Have you heard about the time Walt Disney kidnapped the Vice President? Disneyland's Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour guides relate this tale from the opening of Tomorrowland: While then-Vice President Nixon and Disney were waiting for the official first ride on the Monorail, an empty train came by. In his excitement, Disney couldn't wait. He grabbed Nixon and jumped on board, leaving Nixon's Secret Service agents standing, stunned, on the platform.
American presidents have spent plenty of romantic moments in California, too. Riverside's Mission Inn was the scene of Richard M. and Pat Nixon's wedding and Ronald and Nancy Reagan's honeymoon. Newlyweds John and Jackie Kennedy chose Santa Barbara's San Ysidro Ranch for their honeymoon site.
If you can't make it to the East Coast White House, you'll find the USS Potomac, Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Floating White House" moored in Oakland's Jack London Square, open to the public for dockside tours and history cruises. The famous yacht got here after a long and varied post-presidential career that included brief ownership by Elvis Presley and seizure in a San Francisco drug bust.
President Warren G. Harding was less fortunate than other presidents in his association with the Golden State. In summer, 1923, Harding fell ill and died at San Francisco's Palace Hotel. While the official cause of death is unknown because his wife refused to allow an autopsy, one of the most colorful theories is that she got fed up with his extramarital affairs and poisoned him. Harding's body lay in state in San Francisco City Hall.
Two of California's native sons made it to the nation's highest office, and visitors can explore their stories at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, both located near Los Angeles.
