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Theodore Roosevelt Invents the Modern Presidential Vacation
On a July afternoon in 1902, Theodore Roosevelt exchanged the sizzle of a Washington summer for the ocean breezes of Oyster Bay, New York, and forever transformed the nature of the presidential vacation. Theodore Roosevelt single-handedly invented the modern presidential vacation. While earlier chief executives traveled with just a clerk or two, TR moved key White House staff members and a
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The West Wing: 1900-1924
1902: A White House "restoration" was undertaken. Under Theodore Roosevelt, the 19th-century conservatories were razed, and a new "temporary" executive office building, later called the West Wing, was erected. President Theodore Roosevelt worked in his new rectangular office for the first time on November 5. The first cabinet meeting was held in the new wing on November 6.
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Ford's Theatre and the White House
The histories of the White House and of Ford’s Theatre are obviously linked by their association with Abraham Lincoln. Their histories conjoined on the spring evening of April 14, 1865, when a popular comedy of the day became a tragic backdrop for a horrific real-life drama of national intrigue and violence. However, they are similar in another way: their respective images in
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Stage Struck
Two leading ladies appeared at Washington’s National Theatre on the evening of July 2, 1886. On stage was Nellie McCartee, the star of the opera The Black Hussar. In the audience was the 21-year-old first lady Frances Folsom Cleveland, who, exactly one month earlier, on June 2, had married 49-year-old President Grover Cleveland in a White House ceremony. Public opinion was favorable to
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The Press at the White House: 1933-1941
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, the modern period of president-press relations began. FDR held long and informal press conferences in the Oval Office and began the tradition of an annual press reception modeled after state diplomatic events. FDR was the first president to fully exploit radio as a force to promote his programs and policy. On March 6, 1933, First Lady
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Platform Star
During the last three decades of the nineteenth century, Americans were entertained, challenged, educated, and even shocked by an orator who crisscrossed the country by train, delivering more than 1,300 lectures and campaigning successfully for Republican Party presidents and politicians. He was heard by more Americans than any other person before the invention of the radio. His close friend, Walt Whitman,
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Debate on the Removal of the Seat of Government
The 13th Congress returned for its third session on September 19, 1814, four weeks after the burning of Washington and met at the three-story Blodgett's Hotel (home of the Patent and Post Offices) at 8th and E Streets. Congress's full plate of issues—especially the nation's precarious financial situation—included the question of whether or not to move the capital from Washington. To s
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Unraveling the Dolley Myths
The spirit of Dolley Madison is everywhere in the blocks surrounding the White House. She lived at 1333 F Street, in the White House, in the Octagon House, and in a former row house in the 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. But nowhere in Washington do visitors better imagine Dolley than at her residence across from Saint John’s Church. Here is wh
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Foreword; White House History (Number 31)
Our interest in the surroundings of the White House extends in this issue to include both public and private places, all except one of which survives today. Elizabeth Smith Brownstein’s longtime interest in Civil War Washington has naturally attracted her to the Willard, the capital’s most revered and venerable grand hotel. Observers in Lincoln’s time thought it rivale
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Notable Prominent Neighbors
Saint John’s Church, Lafayette Square, is the oldest building still in use in the neighborhood of the White House—except for the White House itself. Constructed during 1815–16 under the supervision of the noted architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, it first opened for services on October 27, 1816, and was consecrated on December 27, 1816.1 From its inception, the church has had among its members, and oc
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Days of Destruction: The President's House
After torching the Capitol about 100 British soldiers and sailors headed west down Pennsylvania Avenue with four officers, including Major General Robert Ross and Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn in ceremonial bicorne hats, riding behind them. At the deserted White House, the hot and exhausted invaders found the table set for 40-50 dinner guests and they took to the food and
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President Thomas Jefferson's White House Museum
An issue about the White House and the West naturally draws one’s attention to the expansionism experienced during Jefferson’s administration. While the glow of new, cheap land way out there somewhere reverberated in the average citizen’s mind, natural curiosity made him or her wonder also what the West was like. People knew it was different, and might have s