The 2016 White House Christmas ornament honors the administration of the thirty-first president of the United States Herbert Hoover, who served from 1929 to 1933. The ornament is inspired by the fire engines that responded to the 1929 Christmas Eve fire at the White House and the toy trucks presented to children by the Hoovers the following Christmas. Crafted from shiny brass plated with

April 10, 1973: Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew — Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and President Richard M. Nixon held discussions emphasizing continued close cooperation between the United States and Singapore and other allies in Asia and the Pacific.The State Dinner’s menu featured roast beef tenderloin aux champignons, seafood merlion supreme, béarnaise sauce, Bibb lettuce salad, brie cheese and crepe suzet

Journalists, especially those covering the White House, have arguably the most important job in a functioning Democracy: holding public officials accountable and making any wrongdoing known. While the job descriptions for journalists may change to adapt to a growing industry, the responsibility to keep the public informed should stay the same. As Hugh Sidey said, the White House and the

January 14, 1964: State Dinner for Italian President Antonio Segni was hosted by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Featured entertainment included Robert Merrill of the Metropolitan Opera and the New Christy Minstrels. President Segni and his wife were given a silver box, engraved with maps of both countries and a sentence from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (“Italy remains to all, the land of dreams an

“The 150-year era of the great steel plow, central instrument of American abundance and strength, is ending,” wrote Hugh Sidey in 1992. At face value, a story about revolution in farming practices has nothing to teach a journalist about reporting on the presidency, but when it is considered in the scope of Sidey’s work and career, “Revolution on the Farm” highlights

May 3, 2018 8:00 am - 9:00 am Registration and light breakfast in Decatur House Parlors9:00 am - 9:20 am Welcome and OverviewThe Hon. Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., Board Chair, White House Historical AssociationHis Excellency Sir Kim Darroch, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United StatesHis Excellency Daniel Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States9:20 am - 10:00 am First Keynote: 200 Years of the

The 2025 National History Day (NHD) theme is Rights and Responsibilities. The White House Historical Association offers a variety of resources to assist students working on NHD projects.

Official Residences Around the World by Abby Clouse-Radigan This survey of the official residences and offices of some fifty nations around the world represents nearly one thousand years of building and renovating. Who lives in these residences? What were their original purposes and how have they been adapted for modern use? How do they project and preserve each nation's heritage?

Authors JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT is currently the executive director at Wright’s Ferry Mansion in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Abbott has served as director of Johns Hopkins University’s Evergreen Museum & Library, curator of American and European decorative arts for the Baltimore Museum of Art, and curator and educator for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boscobel House and Gardens, and Hist

The State Dining Room, which now seats as many as 140 guests, was originally much smaller and served at various times as a drawing room, office, and Cabinet Room. Today's State Dining Room incorporates the space that President Thomas Jefferson used as a private office. Tall and generously proportioned, the room had fireplaces on the east and west and was flooded

The Blue Room with the Yellow Oval Room above and the Diplomatic Reception Room below it, form the most elegant space of James Hoban's plans for the White House. For the south wall of the Blue Room, he designed French doors flanked by long windows. An oval portico with curving stairs that descended to the South Lawn was included in

Ascending from the Ground Floor Corridor, a marble stairway leads the White House visitor to the State Floor level. Off the landing to the right is the East Room. The largest of the State Rooms, it was designed by James Hoban and George Washington to be a "Public Audience Room." Second President John Adams and his wife First Lady Abigail