Event White House History Live: President Garfield, From Radical to Unifier
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Have you ever wondered...
There is a popular misconception that the White House was first painted white to cover the scorch marks left by British soldiers who burned the house on August 24, 1814. In fact, the White House first received a lime-based whitewash in 1798 to protect its sandstone exterior from moisture and cracking during winter freezes. The term “White House” was occasionally used in newspapers and periodicals throughout the nineteenth century, but most journalists, citizens, and visitors referred to it as either the “President’s House” or the “Executive Mansion.”
On October 17, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary George B. Cortelyou sent a letter to Secretary of State John Hay. At Roosevelt’s direction, Cortelyou asked Secretary Hay and his staff to change “the headings, or date lines, of all official papers and documents requiring his [Roosevelt’s] signature, from ‘Executive Mansion’ to ‘White House.’” Similar directives were sent to other cabinet secretaries, and Roosevelt changed the presidential stationery shortly thereafter as well.
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Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
Could a First Lady of the United States from more than 100 years ago influence today’s generation? Helen Taft’s grea...
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
A message about the Presidential Sites Summit from Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, and Susan Ford...
Historian Elizabeth Rule discusses her new book, Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital. Washington, DC, is Indian la...
Tricia Nixon, elder daughter of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, married Edward “Ed” Finch Cox, a Harvard law...
Lynda Bird Johnson, elder daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson, married Charles Spit...
The White House Historical Association released a new episode of The White House 1600 Sessions podcast today featuring a conversation with...
Eleanor Randolph Wilson, youngest daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, married William Gibbs McAdoo, Secretary...
Jessie Woodrow Wilson, middle daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, married Francis Bowes Sayre, an...
Alice Lee Roosevelt, eldest child of President Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, married Nicholas Longworth, member of the...