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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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John Tyler and Presidential Succession
Just after midnight on April 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison died after only thirty-one days in office. At daybreak on April 5th, Vice President John Tyler received a knock on his door in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he was visiting family. Fletcher Webster, the son of Secretary of State Daniel Webster, delivered the news of the president’s death. By dawn on April 6th
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First Ladies and Cherry Blossoms
Every spring, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,020 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo, Japan, to the city of Washington, D.C. This cherished tradition has deep historic ties to the White House and the nation’s first ladies, beginning with First Lady Helen Herron Taft.For over twenty years, writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, known fo
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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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Lighting the Menorah: Celebrating Hanukkah at the White House
Throughout the history of the United States, all the nation’s presidents have been Christians.1 In modern times, to celebrate the holidays, starting in early December the White House is decorated with brightly ornamented Christmas trees, garlands festooned over mantels and doorways, and the eighteenth-century crèche, a gift to the White House collection in 1967, gloriously displayed in the East Roo
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The “American Resolve” Behind the Scenes
On the morning of September 12, 2001, hundreds of men and women showed their badges at the White House gates as they reported to work.
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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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Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey
The official "pardoning" of White House turkeys is an interesting White House tradition that has captured the imagination of the public in recent years. It is often stated that President Lincoln's 1863 clemency to a turkey recorded in an 1865 dispatch by White House reporter Noah Brooks was the origin for the pardoning ceremony, although this is likely apocryphal. Reports of turkeys
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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