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The Revolutionary Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson
Nearly two decades after his election to the presidency, Thomas Jefferson elaborated on the significance of this triumph to his friend Spencer Roane. The “revolution of 1800,” he wrote, “was as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 76.” This transformation was “not effected indeed by the sword…but by the rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage
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Inauguration of 1861
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed soon after. In the midst of an unprecedented sectional crisis, President Abraham Lincoln entered office on March 4, 1861, to assume leadership of an anxious and worried nation. The Baltimore Sun commented that the “close of an old and the beginning of a new administration of
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African Americans Enter Abraham Lincoln's White House, 1863-1865
The New Years’ Day reception became a White House tradition with President John Adams in 1801 and ended with President Herbert Hoover in 1932. A gala social occasion that attracted the interest of dignitaries, journalists and the general public, it eventually generated crowds of several thousand people who crashed the White House gates for a glimpse of the president or, best of al
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Paul Jennings
Paul Jennings was born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. His mother, an enslaved woman of African and Native American descent, told him that his father was the local English trader Benjamin Jennings. While Paul had no documented relationship with Benjamin and probably never met him, he did adopt the ‘Jennings’ surname as his own. As a
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The Life of Eugene Allen
Eugene Allen served in the White House for 34 years. Assisting eight presidents, Allen’s top priority was to make the White House a comfortable residence for each chief executive and his family. Allen was born in 1919 on a plantation farm near Scottsville in central Virginia.1 During his youth, he worked as a waiter at a resort in Virginia and at a
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Arts Advisors in the Kennedy White House
President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s advocacy for the performing arts endures as a vital part of the Kennedy White House legacy. From 1961 to 1963, the White House became a focal point for arts and culture as the administration hosted numerous concerts and performances. One of the most significant White House concerts during the Kennedy years took pl
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The Arts in the Kennedy White House
Historians of American music, art, and dance often explore their subjects through different topical categories such as genres, schools, and periods. This approach involves studying the individuals and groups responsible for various trends, fashions, and styles. It also means examining how these contributions broadly shaped American culture and artistic expression. Presidential historians tend to focus extensively on a respective administration,
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Lincoln in the State Dining Room
For over 75 years, George Peter Alexander Healy’s portrait of Abraham Lincoln has remained an important aesthetic element for the White House State Dining Room. Prominently displayed above the central mantel, millions of visitors have seen it during a public tour or on a visit to the White House. Lincoln’s placement in one of the largest rooms on the Stat
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James K. Polk's July 4th White House Celebrations
Beginning with Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and for much of the nineteenth century, the White House hosted an annual reception on July 4. During the administration of President James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849, Fourth of July celebrations held at the White House and near its grounds celebrated the rise of American patriotism intensified by the Mexican-American War and westward expansion. On July 4, 1845,
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Texas and the White House
While there have only been a handful of Texans who have called the White House “home,” this group has shaped the building’s history in many significant ways. The first Texas-born president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, lived briefly in Denison before his family moved to Abilene, Kansas. Eisenhower spent most of his childhood in Abilene and considered it his hometown; today it hou
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Nellie Arthur in the White House
Nellie Arthur, daughter of President Chester Arthur, did not like the White House when she first took residence there in 1881. She found it “too big and lonesome.” In time, though, she would come to love life in the Executive Mansion.1 Ellen Herndon Arthur was born on November 21, 1871 in New York City; older brother Chester, Jr., was born in 1864. Her parents, Ches
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"A Unique Privilege"
On June 11, 1945, nearly two months into his presidency, Harry Truman wrote to his daughter Margaret: “you evidently are just finding out what a terrible situation the President’s daughter is facing … so you must face it. Keep your balance and go along just as your dad is trying to go.”1 Like many presidential children, Margaret Truman experienced both the benefits and chal