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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day": Causes
Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) considered herself a resident of Washington, D.C. and took an active part in the city's life during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Her activism stemmed from her conviction that the nation's capital belonged "to every citizen of the United States" and should be a place where "people . . . [who] have an interest in certain social questions . . ." could "
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Article
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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Article
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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Scholarship
Abraham Lincoln Funeral
Six hundred invited guests attended the funeral of President Lincoln, felled by the assassin John Wilkes Booth. The East Room overflowed with mourners out into the Green Room. Inconsolable, Mary Todd Lincoln would not attend the funeral services. General Grant was seated alone at the head of the catafalque in full uniform, the hero on a pedestal, his face glistening
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Article
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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Article
Franklin D. Roosevelt Funeral
The death of President Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, took the world wholly by surprise. Although those close to him had feared that since his reelection campaign that his time was near, the public was not aware of the seriousness of his condition even though photographs from Yalta showed his physical deterioration. The president secretly left for the Yalta Conference after his
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Article
James A. Garfield Funeral
On July 2, 1881, Charles J.Guiteau twice shot and greviously wounded President Garfield at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac station. The president was taken to the White House and was treated by a half dozen physicians who tried to remove a bullet in his back with bare hands and unsterilized instruments. Garfield asked to be taken to the New Jersey seaside on
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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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Warren G. Harding Funeral
The stunning news of President Harding's death came to the White House by telephone on August 2, 1923. The president had fallen ill and died suddenly of a heart attack in San Francisco while on a tour of the western states. Floral tributes—bouquets, crosses, wreaths, anchors of hope and many other traditional symbols of mourning—began to arrive as soon as the
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Article
William Henry Harrison Funeral
Before the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841, there was no established form for official mourning and funerals of presidents who died in office. However, it was clear that the death of a president called for a formal ceremony with symbolism suitable to the dignity of the state. The White House was heavily draped in black. The funeral ceremony was
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Article
William McKinley Funeral
Shot by anarchist Leon F. Czolgosz while he was standing in a receiving line at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., on September 6, 1901, President McKinley would die eight days later after gangrene ravaged his wounded organs. McKinley's funeral train arrived in Washington, D.C., in the evening of Monday, September 16, 1901. The coffin was lifted out of the palace car
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Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the streets of Selma to the walls of the White House, Martin Luther King, Jr. worked tirelessly for the civil rights of African-Americans, and ultimately human rights for everyone. Enjoy a flickr slideshow of photographs that document his influence on four presidential administrations.