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The Origins of the American "First Lady"
Article 2 Section 1 of the United States Constitution begins with the following: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”1 This passage goes on to define the length of the president’s term; how the president will be elected; citizenship and age requirements; presidential succession; compensation; and finally, the presidential oath that all chief execut
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Grace Coolidge and Great War Veterans
During her husband’s administration from 1923-1929, First Lady Grace Coolidge used her public visibility to support disabled First World War veterans. As part of her duties as first lady, Mrs. Coolidge met with veterans of the Great War and other patients at nearby Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On December 4, 1923, she visited the medical center to view an exhibition of
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Article
Presidents as Horsemen
The nineteenth century might be called the golden age of the horse. Horsepower pulled plow, canal boat, and wagon to market; horse-drawn stages linked towns; and omnibuses and carriages conveyed people to work within cities, to shop, or to the train station, which, a decade after the Civil War, emerged as the hub of a transcontinental transportation system. Before automobiles,
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The Eisenhower Family Home, in Abilene, Kansas
The Eisenhower Family Home is located in the heart of the Midwest—Abilene, Kansas—and is part of the complex known as the Eisenhower Center. The 23 acre center includes the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, a repository for the papers of the thirty-fourth president of the United States; the Eisenhower Museum; the Visitors Center; and the Place of Meditation, where Dwig
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An Eisenhower Christmas
The White House has many holiday traditions, some of which are historic and others more recent. New arrivals to the Executive Mansion often bring unique familial rituals that they celebrate alongside time-tested White House and presidential customs. During the holiday season, the president and first lady participate in public traditions such as receiving a tree for the Blue Room, lighting
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Article
A Neighbor Returns More Than a Cup of Sugar
In 2009, White House neighbors on Lafayette Square shared a fascinating surprise. In October 2008, Decatur House, an historic property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, located in its storage a painting that had been purchased for the White House in 1890. The removal of the painting from the White House in the early twentieth century is undocumented, but its return is
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The West Garden
In the early days of gardening at the White House, the gardens were fenced away to facilitate care and watering. A large vegetable garden was planted on the west side, with a water pump nearby. There were ornamental plants, but there is no record of an ornamental garden until Andrew Jackson’s was built on the east side about 1833, centered up
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The White House State Dinner
A state dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs. It is part of an official state visit and provides the president and first lady the opportunity to honor the visiting head of state and his or her spouse. It is a courtesy, an expression of
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Patricia Nixon's Stately Elegance
The 1969 "American Flower Tree" stood in the North Entrance. For its decoration, First Lady Patricia Nixon arranged for disabled workers in Florida to make velvet and satin balls featuring each state's flower. For the 1970 Blue Room tree, she added 53 "Monroe" fans made by disabled workers in New York. Gold foil angels joined the trimmings in 1971. Mrs. Nixon took her 1972 Christmas
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Rosalynn Carter Recaptures the Past
First Lady Rosalynn Carter explored a variety of holiday themes in her years at the White House. Her 1977 Blue Room tree featured painted milkweed pods, nut pods, foil and eggshell ornaments made by members of the National Association for Retarded Citizens. In 1978 Mrs. Carter decked an "antique toy" tree with Victorian dolls and miniature furniture lent by the Margaret Woodbury
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Article
The Other White House
For a four-year period in American history, two official houses carried the name White House. Standing 90 miles apart, across the Virginia landscape, one overlooked the Potomac River and the other the James. They were the same age and architecturally were cousins. Designed by James Hoban, the White House had been rebuilt by him and completed late in 1817, after its destruction
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The Corcoran Mansion
William Wilson Corcoran—banker, philanthropist, and patron of the arts—resided in picturesque splendor on the northwest corner of Lafayette Park at the intersection of H Street and Connecticut Avenue, NW, from 1848 to 1888. The son of an Irish immigrant, Corcoran made his fortune in banking. As a partner in Washington’s Corcoran & Riggs Bank during the Mexican War, he was re