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The White House and Lincoln's Assassination
Abraham Lincoln had never been more William Tecumseh Sherman’s thrust through the cheerful and carefree in the White House than on his last day alive. Richmond, the Confederate capital, had recently fallen, and it was only five days since Washingtonians had celebrated the deliriously exciting news of Robert E. Lee’s surrender to the Union victor, Ulysses S. Grant. The
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Mrs. Taft and the Cherry Blossoms
When Helen Herron Taft became the nation’s first lady in March 1909, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore had been vainly struggling for almost a quarter-century to interest Superintendents of the U.S. Army’s Office of Public Buildings and Grounds in planting Japanese flowering cherry trees to beautify the driveway of Potomac Park. Scidmore, an accomplished traveler, author, and reporter who had visi
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A Tribute to Pat Nixon on the 100th Anniversary of Her Birth (March 16, 2012)
Early YearsBorn Thelma Catherine Ryan on March 16, 1912, in Ely, Nevada, “Pat” Nixon acquired her nickname from her father who called her his “St. Patrick’s babe in the morn.” The Ryan family moved to California and settled on a small truck farm near Los Angeles—a life of hard work with few luxuries. When her mother died in 1925, 13-year-old Pat assumed hous
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1800s
John Adams spent the majority of his presidency in Philadelphia, but later occupied the President's House in Washington, D.C., which officially became the new federal city in December 1800. About a month beforehand, President Adams moved into the Executive Mansion on November 1. The house was unfinished, yet habitable, and the president and First Lady Abigail Adams made six rooms comfortable,
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1810s
In 1809, James and Dolley Madison moved into the nearly completed President’s House that contained worn furnishings from past administrations. Mrs. Madison employed Surveyor of Public Buildings Benjamin H. Latrobe to refurbish the State Floor, and he custom-designed furniture for the Oval Room. On August 24, 1814, British forces invaded Washington, D.C. and set fire to the public buildings. The conflagration de
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Electricity Use Expands
By the 1920s electric vacuum cleaners were cleaning the White House carpets, and an electric refrigerator was humming in the kitchen. Warren G. Harding had the house's first radio set installed in his study in 1922 on the second floor. To further advance the use of electricity, Calvin Coolidge celebrated the holiday season of 1923 by lighting the first National Christmas Tree
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INTRODUCTION: Memoirs of the First White House Social Secretary Isabella Hagner
Isabella Hagner James, known to all as Belle, was the only daughter of Dr. Charles Evelyn Hagner and Isabella Wynn Davis. Her parents were “cave-dwellers,” as old Washingtonians styled themselves, and Belle’s reminiscences of her early life vividly resurrect the mores of late nineteenth-century Washington.1 They also recount vicissitudes of fortune that rival the plots of Edith Wharton or Henry
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Installing a White House Heating System
Installation of a gravity hot-air heating system began in the spring of 1840. The system used a self-contained furnace with an inner firebox of iron enclosed by a shell of plastered brick where the air was warmed. Ducts ran from both the outer shell and the furnace room itself (oval room in the basement, now the Diplomatic Reception Room) and extended
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Easter Egg Roll: Years Without an Easter Monday
The egg roll holds such an important place in White House history that no president wants to be known for canceling it. World War I and food rationing stopped the event from being hosted at the White House. In 1942, egg rollers were sent back to the Capitol grounds, the place from which they had been ousted 66 years before. World War
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Reports from the White House Easter Egg Roll
The annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House has been a regular public event since 1878 and a subject of interest to Americans across the country.Reports from White House Easter Egg Rolls Past:"The White House Lawn" | The Washington Post, April 23, 1889 "On the broad portico of the southern entrance stood the president of the United States holding in his
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Ushers and Stewards Since 1800
The White House Usher’s Office is one of the most singular working spaces in the world, with a tradition that parallels that of the presidents themselves. The actual quarters, adjacent to the Entrance Hall, serve as a platform from which to witness history. Remarkably few have had the distinct privilege of serving in this office, and the experience is li
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1840s
The clamor over Martin Van Buren's perceived abuse of the furniture fund continued after he left office in 1841. Successor William Henry Harrison found the family quarters of the President's House lacking practical furnishings. Congress did approve $6,000 for new furniture. However, Harrison died of pneumonia only a month after taking office. John Tyler moved in with seven children and invalid wife