White House Decorative Arts in the 1940s

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Betty C. Monkman Author

When America entered the Second World War, it brought changes to Franklin D. Roosevelt's White House. On December 22, 1941, the Monroe Room became a temporary map room and office for wartime visitor British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Harry S. Truman inherited the White House toward the end of World War II. The Truman family had time to settle in the White House just before serious structural problems forced them out in late 1948. Massive renovations and reconstruction of the house continued until 1952.

White House Decorative Arts in the 1940s — Water Goblet and Finger Bowl. T. G. Hawkes & Company, Corning, New York, 1938, on blanks by Tiffin Glass Co., Tiffin, Ohio. The first new glassware service since 1891 was ordered for the Roosevelts in 1937. Also shown, Salad Plate--Lenox, Inc. Trenton, New Jersey, 1934. A state china service for 120, decorated with an inner band of gilt roses and plumes from the Roosevelt family coat of arms, was chosen by the first lady in 1934.

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This was originally published in The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families, 213-218.

Footnotes & Resources

The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families, 213-218

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