Main Content

You Might Also Like

  • Page

    Lady Bird Johnson's Americana

    The Lyndon B. Johnson Administration began during a time of great uncertainty. In November 1963, the assassination of President Kennedy had stunned America. New First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson certainly felt a desire to help the nation heal. She chose comforting and nostalgic holiday decor during her White House years. Her 1965 and 1966 Blue Room Christmas trees were decorated in an

  • Page

    Amenities & Living Comforts

    The first bath tubs in the White House were portable and made of tin; water was hauled in buckets. Running water was piped into the White House in 1833. Gaslighting, installed in the White House in 1848, replaced candles and oil lamps. A central heating system was installed in the White House in 1837 when many people still warmed themselves with a log

  • Page

    White House Ghost Stories

    1862-1863: Mary Todd Lincoln, grieving over her son Willies death in February, began to participate in spirit circles or seances in the Red Room at the White House and the presidential cottage at the Soldiers Home. Spiritualism was wildly popular during the height of the Civil War as families sought comfort for the loss of loved ones. 1901-1904: Jeremiah Jerry

  • Page

    Booker T. Washington Visits the White House

    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

  • Page

    Frederick Douglass

    The son of an enslaved woman and an unknown white man, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in 1818 on Maryland's eastern shore. He was enslaved for twenty years in city households in Baltimore and on Maryland farms. In 1838, he fled north and changed his name to Frederick Douglass.Douglass was highly active in the abolitionist movement and became

  • Scholarship

    Artists Perform for the President

    The abundance of fine artists who performed during the Theodore Roosevelt era continued to appear during succeeding administrations, and President and Mrs. William Howard Taft and the Woodrow Wilsons molded the popular White House musicale into a well-established tradition. Beginning with the Roosevelts and continuing through the Eisenhowers, Steinway & Sons assisted the First Lady with the selection of the

  • Story

    The United States Marine Band: In Performance

    Many of the world's finest performing artists have shared the White House stage with the Marine Band. Great tenors and divas, maestros and virtuosos, Broadway stars and jazz greats have all become part of the social history of the White House. "Ever since this wonderful house was built, it has been filled with music. Thomas Jefferson played his violin and

  • Article

    Where Hospitality Makes History: State Visits

    Since World War II, an ever-lengthening procession of foreign leaders has come to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to confer on global problems. These dignitaries are often formally entertained at the White House, and an invitation to attend such a function is highly coveted. Certainly a State Dinner to honor a visiting head of government or a reigning monarch is one of the

  • Scholarship

    Seances in the Red Room

    Death plagues us all: it is the only certainty in life and plays an integral role in the human experience. When a loved one perishes, it is their survivors who are left to pick up the pieces. In a time of mourning, grief-stricken loved ones turn to a plethora of coping mechanisms, and over time the way we mourn has

  • Scholarship

    Diversity in White House Art: Simmie Knox

    On June 14, 2004, the official portraits of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton were unveiled in the East Room of the White House. These paintings made history as the first official White House portraits created by a Black artist, Simmie Knox.

  • Scholarship

    Architecture: 1850s-1890s

    1850sJames Buchanan, at the urging of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane, added a wooden greenhouse on the roof of the west terrace in 1857, adjacent to the State Dining Room. One could enter a private world of plants and flowers grown for decorating the house. This simple structure burned in 1867 and was replaced by iron and wood structure

  • Scholarship

    Architecture: 1900s-1940s

    1900sOne of Theodore Roosevelts earliest acts as President was to issue an order establishing the "White House" as the buildings official name. Previously, it had been called the "Presidents House" or the "Executive Mansion." This decision portended more serious discussion regarding the status of the house. In 1902, Mrs. Roosevelt asked the distinguished architect Charles McKim for his advice. His recommendations