Bio Warren G. Harding
Before his nomination, Warren G. Harding declared, "America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not...
Securing the White House
How Long? 1 minute
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, White House security became a much more serious concern than it had been in the past. Bulletproof glass in the three south windows of the Oval Office and a "bomb-barrier," concrete poured along the West Wall of the Executive Office Building, were installed. Special outdoor lighting was designed by General Electric to dimly illuminate the grounds without casting a glare on the house itself. Despite protests from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an air raid shelter was also built under the newly constructed East Wing. In 1942, Roosevelt ordered an East Terrace cloakroom called the "Hat Box" converted into a movie theater. Here the president enjoyed watching news reels and took special interest in the battles fought in Europe and Asia.
The “Hat Box” as it appeared in 2008.
You Might Also Like
-
-
Bio Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce became president at a time of what seemed on the surface like domestic tranquillity. The United States, by...
-
Bio Franklin D. Roosevelt
Assuming the presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in...
-
Bio Ulysses S. Grant
Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the president and aligned himself with the...
-
Bio Thomas Jefferson
In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, "I have sworn upon the altar...
-
Bio Theodore Roosevelt
With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest president in the nation's history. He brought...
-
Bio Martha Jefferson
At age 22, Martha Wayles Skelton was already a widow, an heiress, and a mother whose firstborn son would die in...
-
Bio Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bringing to the presidency his vast experience as commanding general of the victorious forces in Europe during World War II,...
-
Bio Chester A. Arthur
Dignified, tall, and handsome, with clean-shaven chin and side-whiskers, Chester A. Arthur "looked like a president." The son of a...
-
Bio Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address, "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine,...
-
Bio Calvin Coolidge
1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that Warren G. Harding was dead and he was president. By the...
-
Bio George Washington
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath...
