You Might Also Like
-
Page
Self-emancipation in Lafayette Park
In 1810 an enslaved woman named Alethia “Lethe” Tanner purchased her freedom with $275 dollars she had earned selling vegetables in the area we know today as Lafayette Square. Enslaved people used the open air markets to their advantage, by growing fruits and vegetables on small plots of land and selling them to raise money. Before being landscaped and named for the Marq
-
Page
St. John's Church
Every president since James Madison has attended services at St. John's Church. This distinctive yellow church was the second building to be constructed on Lafayette Square and has always been a symbolic and important house of worship in Washington, D.C. Visitors to Lafayette Square can enter St. John's Church from the 16th Street entrance to see the sanctuary and
-
Page
The White House, Lafayette Square and African Americans
To imagine what it was like here when the White House was being constructed in the 1790s, erase everything else you see now on and around Lafayette Square. The park was a field—muddy or dusty, depending on the weather. Enslaved workers who were building the White House were housed in temporary shelters—each about 10 feet wide and 10 feet long—lined
-
Page
The Butler's Role at a State Dinner with Royal Visitors
Prior to the 1939 visit of the queen and king of England, Eleanor Roosevelt received a State Department memorandum, listing various rules of protocol. Mrs. Roosevelt became concerned about the order in which the Roosevelts, and the queen and king, should be served at the state dinner honoring the royal couple.1"I told Franklin," Mrs. Roosevelt recalled, "that British protocol required
-
Page
The President and His Steward Meet with a Calamity
John Quincy Adams hired Antoine Michel Giusta as his valet after they met in Belgium in 1814. Giusta was a deserter from Napoleon's army. During the time John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams were living in London, Giusta married Mrs. Adams's maid. Antoine and his wife had managed the Adams' households from the time the Adamses returned to the United
-
Page
The White House Usher on the Role of Television
"Largely through television," notes historian William Seale, the White House "is the best known house in the world, the instantly familiar symbol of the Presidency, flashed daily on millions and millions of TV screens everywhere."1J. B. West was Assistant Chief Usher at the White House from 1941 to 1957, and Chief Usher from 1957 to 1969. During the Eisenhower administration, West had an
-
Page
Three Ushers Foil an Assassin
Thomas F. Pendel was a White House doorman from the Abraham Lincoln administration to the turn of the 20th century. By the time Chester A. Arthur succeeded James A. Garfield in September 1881, Pendel had experienced the assassinations of both Lincoln and Garfield.Even before Arthur moved into the White House, a man who "seemed perfectly rational" came to the Executive
-
Page
White House Visitor Center
In July 2012, the National Park Service’s White House Visitor Center began undergoing a $12.6 million revitalization through a public-private partnership with the White House Historical Association. The Association's donation of $12.5 million for the project and operating endowment helped make this extraordinary public resource possible. David M. Rubenstein's gift of $5 million to the Association for the White House Visitor Center ensures ce
-
Page
Canadian State Visits to the White House
December 6, 1927: Governor General Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon — Canada’s governor general and wife Marie arrived at Union Station and were greeted by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and Mrs. Clara Kellogg, and then inspected an honor guard of U.S. Marines. A cavalry troop with drawn sabers then escorted the visitors to the Canadian legation on Massachusetts Aven
-
Page
France in the White House: A Conversation on Historical Perspectives
This event will be held at the White House Historical Association. Arrive at the entrance at 748 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, D.C. for the symposium on May 4, 2017. May 4 Program 8:30am - 9:15am Registration and light French breakfast in Decatur House9:15am - 9:30am Break and transition to Carriage House9:30am - 9:45am WelcomeThe Honorable Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., Chairman of
-
Page
The White House and the Press
Read Digital EditionForeword: William SealeThe President, the Press, and Proximity: The Creation of the White House Press Center, James A. JacobsBeyond the Press Room: Reporting from the White House Grounds Photo EssayThe White House Remembered: Volume 2, Recollections by Presidents George H. W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton, Edited by Hugh SideyLincoln in His Shop: How a President Opened His Doors
-
Page
The Presidents and the Theatre
Read Digital Edition Foreword, William SealeThe Man Who Came to Dinner at the White House: Alexander Woollcott Visits the Roosevelts, Mary Jo Binker The Curse of the Presidential Musical: Mr. President and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Amy HendersonFord's Theatre and the White House, William O'Brien The American Presidents and Shakespeare, Paul F. Boller Jr.Opera for the President: Superstars and Song in