Inside the retired Air Force One- where LBJ was given the Oath and the plane Nixon took to China- that is now a victim of budget cuts (2024)

• The retired Air Force One, now called Special Air Mission 26000, is normally on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio
• Sequestration cuts have caused the display to be closed
• Is the plane that took JFK to Dallas, where LBJ was then sworn-in
  
• Also carried Nixon on his famous trip to China
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 20:35 EST, 19 July 2013 | Updated: 07:36 EST, 20 July 2013

A storied piece of American history is being kept away from the public as the federal government tries to cut costs during the sequester.

The retired Air Force One airplane that is now holed up in a private hanger in Ohio is the same one where Jackie Kennedy stood as Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in, as her husband's blood was still fresh on her jacket.

It is the same airplane that ferried then-President Nixon to China in his famed trip done to help smoothe tensions with the Eastern power.

And though then-Vice President Al Gore was the last one to take a significant trip on it when he marked the airplane's retirement in 1998, it had been still pleasing visitors for years as a display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force for years.

That is until it was closed off to visitors, as CNN reports that the shuttle buses used to drive tourists to the remote hanger were seen as an excessive cost for the federally-funded enterprise.

As a result, aviation aficionados will have to settle for the plethora of photos from the plane's- which is now referred to as Special Air Mission 26000, or SAM for short- it's most dramatic- and infamous- moments.

The first came with the death of a President, as SAM 26000 was the plane that ferried then-President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas along with his wife on that fateful November day in 1963.

As a result of the assassination, it also became the plane that ferried his body back to Washington.

Before that happened, though, it earned another distinction as it became the spot where the only female judge has sworn in a president.

Federal Judge Sarah Hughes was called on board to give Johnson the oath of office before heading back to the Capitol with a heartbroken First Lady and presidential corpse on board.

The plane didn't finish it's funereal tasks there, as it later was used to fly the coffins of LBJ and Nixon to their final resting places, Texas and California respectively.

Nixon's most memorable moment with the plane came during his lifetime, however, as he made his 1972 trip to the People's Republic of China.

It was the first time that an American president visited the country, and was seen as a significant step in building diplomatic relations.

On a different trip, the plane played a role- albeit a very minor one- in one of the most embarassing moments in American politics.

After becoming an intern and mistress of then-President Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky was transferred out of the White House and into the staff roster for the Pentagon.

While she was upset that she was further away from her married lover, one perk that helped soften the blow was the fact that she was included on a Pentagon trip to Europe.

As such, she rode the plane overseas, since it was used for the trip since it was getting older and relegated to second-tier activities (as opposed to being on call for the president's use).

The plane's final flight came just two years later when then-Vice President Al Gore was on board for the last leg of a multi-decade tour of duty when it went from Washington to Columbia, South Carolina.

'If history itself had wings, it probably would be this very aircraft,' Gore said during the trip.

Now it is a part of history being hidden away, however, as it is off limits to visitors who make the trek to Dayton, Ohio to visit the aviation history museum.

Because the sequestration is still in flux, there is no telling exactly when it will be reopened to the public.