Turns out that the wonderful cruises we enjoy today are a direct result of the visionary naval architect William Francis Gibbs, who was obsessed with building the greatest ocean liner of all time a century ago and putting the USA at the top of the industry.
He succeeded, of course, and this fascinating historical account confirms his technological ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. It took decades of research and development, stops and starts, power brokering, political compromise and lots of patience, but the painfully shy and late-blooming Philadelphia genius never gave up. He stuck to his vision and wowed all the right people in the private and public sector to attain his dream.
Thus, metaphorically, the story of Gibbs and the construction of the S.S. United States (completed in 1952) is really a snapshot of the American Dream culminating with this country's mid-century greatness. It may be a far cry from the uncertain America of today, but nostalgia aside, there's a great lesson to be learned about taking advantage of every opportunity despite economic challenges and individual setbacks. Gibbs was nothing if not persistent: He knew he had a hot property, and so did all the industrialists and politicians and military leaders and designers he approached and collaborated with.
Gibbs stood in awe of European ocean liner supremacy at the start of the 20th century, yet he figured out a way of transforming the American industry between the Titanic disaster of 1912 and the end of World War I. Gibbs wanted to combine speed, luxury and safety all in a superliner, and he came up with his own design. But his family fortune slipped away, and he was forced to leave Harvard and go into law. He was miserable.
But Gibbs obtained early support from J.P. Morgan Jr. and the Army during World War I, when troop and cargo transport was essential (future president Dwight Eisenhower was a young captain who came into contact with Gibbs). Then after the Great War, he needed government support in reconstructing the great German war prize, the Leviathan, into an American-flagged superliner. That turned into a political as well as a technological struggle. But Gibbs persevered by forming his own firm with younger brother, Frederic.
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