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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels

 

[Extract]

JULY                        TUESDAY 23                  1918

Cabinet

Gregory1 had been to Detroit & reported progress in building liberty motors.2 Also about submarine detectors-

WW3 told of a Scotch woman house Keeper at White House – She was very suspicious of an unoffending German who made the fires in the White House and came in ominous tones and said “There is a German in the cellar.” . . .

Making Liberty engines for $3,600 & England wanting them

Source Note: D, DLC-MSS, Josephus Daniels Papers, Diaries, Roll 1.

Footnote 1: Attorney General Thomas W. Gregory.

Footnote 2: Liberty engines were used in aircraft. They were 400-horsepower, V-12 engines and were among the most powerful developed during the war. Designed to be mass-produced, they were built by a number of the automobile manufacturing companies in the United States. These companies were concentrated in Detroit. Rossano, Stalking the U-Boat: 33, 170. For a picture of a Liberty engine, see: Illustrations for July 1918.

Footnote 3: President Woodrow Wilson.