White House Sketches
White House War Room
July 4, 1898
George Gibbs's illustration of the scene inside the War Room during the Spanish-American War. Left to right: Telegraph operator, Secretary Alger, Captain Crownshield, General Miles, Secretary Long, President McKinley, Mr. Porter (President's Secretary), and a Military Aide.
During the Spanish-American War of 1898, the White House, for the first time, became a communications center in wartime. Newspapers followed every move of President William McKinley (1897-1901) and the busy activity at the White House. When the ship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on the evening of February 15, McKinley received a telephone call at three in the morning. Immediately, the president established a special telegraph office on the second floor of the White House called the "War Room." The war, which lasted three months (April 21 to August 13, 1898), was a major victory for the United States.