Foreword; White House History Number 34

In the White House today the West is a constant presence in art and history. This issue of White House History addresses the subject in various ways. Richard W. Stephenson shows with historic maps the various possibilities that the capital itself might have been moved westward; George Washington’s participation in laying out the city helped preserve it. Estill Pennington walks through the White House, selecting western art hanging on the walls to illustrate the tug of the West that has always been there. Peter Waddell imagines in watercolor Thomas Jefferson’s museum of the west. John James Audubon’s portrait is given context by Danny Heitman. And Nenette Arroyo shows how Helen Herron Taft’s love for Asia and the Pacific inspired her to imitate the cherry groves of Japan along the Potomac River.