Podcast 250 Years of American Political Leadership
The American experiment has long held the curiosity of people around the world, especially for Iain Dale, an award-winning British...
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Booker T. Washington c. 1900.
Theodore Roosevelt became president after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. The early months of his administration were a tense period of trial and error as Roosevelt had not been elected president. Fond of dinners as a means of entertaining, the Roosevelts held them nearly every night over the last few months of 1901 and constructed the guest lists with an eye to politics. One of these early dinners put White House hospitality on the front pages. This dinner actually occurred a few days before the official period of mourning for McKinley had ended. On October 16, Roosevelt had among his guests the educator Booker T. Washington, whose autobiography, Up From Slavery, was then highly popular. Roosevelt often invited people to dinner to discuss public affairs when the day’s meeting calendar was too full. Washington arrived with an invitation at the north door promptly at eight. In the Blue Room he joined his fellow dinner guest, Philip B. Stewart of Colorado. Dinner was probably served in the State Dining Room since the party was in evening dress. The guests remembered a simple, cordial evening. The next morning following a news release of the White House guest list, the event sparked the hottest news since the McKinley assassination. Editorials in the South–but not only the South–were harsh in their criticism of Roosevelt. The furor over the dinner–the first time that an African American was entertained at the White House–revealed the structure’s symbolic power and the bigotry then at large in the nation.
The American experiment has long held the curiosity of people around the world, especially for Iain Dale, an award-winning British...
From First Lady Dolley Madison's sister Lucy Payne Washington's wedding in 1812 to the nuptials of President Joseph Biden and First...
In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in for the first of his four terms as president of the United States....
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Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., the nation’s only unelected president and vice president, served thirteen terms in Congress before rising to...
Every year since 1981, the White House Historical Association has had the privilege of designing the Official White House Christmas Ornament....
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Every year since 1981, the White House Historical Association has had the privilege of designing the Official White House Christmas Ornament....
Over 200 years ago, James Hoban left Ireland for America to pursue his dream of becoming an architect. Selected by President...
Native Americans hold a significant place in White House history. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples, including the Nacotchtank and...
A State Dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous...