Page 6 - Donald Trump: 45th US President

During this period Fred came up with a brash, bold sales technique
that was unusual for the era. In July 1939 he launched a home market-

ing event called the Trump Boat Show using a 65-foot (20 m) yacht.
Th e ship sailed past hundreds of thousands
“[Donald] would sit of Coney Island sunbathers on a swelter-
with his arms folded, ing Sunday while recordings of “God Bless
with this look on his America” and “Th e Star Spangled Ban-
face—I would use the ner” blared from the deck. Fifty-foot (15
word surly—almost m) banners that promoted Trump homes
daring you to say one fl uttered on the side of the yacht. Fred gen-
thing or another that erated further excitement by disbursing
didn’t settle with him.” 7 thousands of swordfi sh-shaped balloons

— Ann Trees, grade school with coupons for a $250 discount toward
teacher the purchase of a Trump home. Th is caused
near riots as people pushed and shoved one
another to grab the coupons. As journalist Jason Horowitz observed in
2016, “As a salesman, competitor . . . and, above all, as a showboating
self-promoter, Fred Trump was the Donald Trump of his day.”
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A Surly Student
Fred and Mary Trump had another daughter, Elizabeth, in 1942. By
the time Donald was born in 1946, Fred was one of the richest men in
the United States. He built a twenty-three-room mansion in a wealthy
Queens enclave called Jamaica Estates in 1948. Donald’s younger
brother, Robert, was born around this time.
Th e Trump residence stood out even in Jamaica Estates, where
homes owned by doctors, lawyers, and powerful politicians were sur-
rounded by giant oak trees and huge lawns. Th e Trump home, perched
on a hill, featured stately white columns like those found on southern
plantations. And unlike most of their neighbors, the Trumps had a
cook, a maid, and a chauff eur; a Cadillac limousine with the license
plate bearing Fred’s initials, FCT, was often parked in the driveway.
When Donald was fi ve he attended kindergarten at the private
Kew-Forest School. Male students at Kew-Forest were required to

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