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Dolley Madison Purchases a Music Collection
Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, was one of early America’s most gracious hostesses. Through Benjamin Latrobe, she purchased a piano for the White House for $450 that was of "superior tone in strength and sweetness." She also purchased the earliest collection of music for the White House. Printed in Philadelphia in 1810, Madame Le Pelletier’s elegantly engraved Journal of Musi
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Millard Fillmore's Musical Family
President Millard Fillmore and his family were particularly musical. Mrs. Fillmore, the former Abigail Powers, made certain the White House had not only a music room, but also three pianos. For relaxation Mrs. Fillmore enjoyed playing duets with her talented daughter, Mary Abigail, a fine amateur musician, proficient on the piano, harp and guitar. During the Fillmore administration, the famous
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Musical Heritage at the White House
In June 2001, President Bush proclaimed the month of June, “Black Music Month,” encouraging “all Americans to learn more about the contributions of black artists to America's musical heritage and to celebrate their remarkable role in shaping our history and culture.” Performers Lionel Hampton, Shirley Caesar, Bobby Jones, James Brown, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Harlem Jazz Museum Artists attended
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President and Mrs. Adams Invite the United States Marine Band
President and Mrs. John Adams were the first occupants of the White House in the nation’s new capital, the City of Washington. Shortly after moving into the mansion in November 1800, the Adams’s invited the young United States Marine Band, consisting of only eight or ten musicians, to play at their first reception on New Years Day, 1801. This event esta
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The Eisenhowers' Musical White House
While neither President nor Mrs. Eisenhower was especially knowledgeable in European classical music, they recognized the value of the music of their own nation and placed more emphasis than any of their predecessors on White House programs that reflected its colorful variety. The Eisenhowers were the first to bring Broadway musical theater to the White House in an after-dinner program
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The Kennedys and Performing Arts
Although guest artists had been entertaining at the White House for more than a century, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy made the White House a true showcase for the performing arts and their creativity and dedication provided a model for succeeding administrations to the present day. By inviting the media to White House cultural events, they placed a spotlight
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White House Music During the 1990s
President and Mrs. George Bush recognized music as a supreme American gesture, a vital symbol of American life as it underscored every important national event, social cause and ceremonial mood in the White House. Today, the United States Marine Band, America’s oldest musical organization, numbers 140 musicians and plays at the White House more than 150 times a year. From early 1993 to
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John F. Kennedy Funeral
John F. Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Shocked and saddened by that news bulletin, Americans that lived through the 1960s will never forget the day of Kennedy's death and the sorrow of that solemn funeral. Television brought those events immediately and continually into America's homes. The president had been pronounced dead
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Nancy Reagan and Second Genesis
First Lady Nancy Reagan chose the themes for eight White House Christmases. Her official 1981 Blue Room tree was trimmed in ornaments lent by the Museum of American Folk Art. For all the following years, she arranged for the people of Second Genesis, a drug treatment program in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, to help decorate her trees. In 1982, they made
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Fourth of July Celebrations at the White House in the 19th Century
The People's House: Although John Adams was the first to occupy the Executive Mansion in November 1800, it was Thomas Jefferson who first celebrated the Fourth of July at the White House in 1801. Jefferson opened the house and greeted diplomats, civil and military officers, citizens, and Cherokee chiefs in the oval saloon (today’s Blue Room). The Marine Band played in th
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President Grover Cleveland's Goodwill Tour of 1887
Every effective politician understands the importance and tone of public contact. From the first, presidents, as the nation’s chief magistrates, have recognized the need to leave the White House and mingle with the voters, especially when an election is in the offing. President Grover Cleveland was a Democrat in a largely Republican nation. His opponents had held the White Ho
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"Off for the Ditch"
Prior to President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Panama in 1906, no American president had set foot outside the country during his tenure in office, not even crossing a bridge to Canada or Mexico. In an August 1906 letter to Andrew Carnegie, President Roosevelt bemoaned the “ironclad custom which forbids a President ever [going] abroad” that kept him from engaging in dir