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Social Dancing at the White House
Social dancing was especially enjoyed during the terms of Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley and its popularity within the White House reflected the changing times. While President Harrison enjoyed a form of waltz, known as "The German," McKinley at his Valentine’s Day Dance preferred the new two-step, such as "Goo-Goo Eyes," which illustrated the merging of ragtime and social da
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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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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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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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Anti-War Protests of the 1960s-70s
The Vietnam anti-war movement was one of the most pervasive displays of opposition to the government policy in modern times. Protests raged all over the country. San Francisco, New York, Oakland, and Berkeley were all demonstration hubs, especially during the height of the war in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But Washington, D.C. remained one of the most
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The Press at the White House: 1963-1980
Lyndon B. Johnson changed the nature of press conferences by including impromptu sessions where reporters might ask a few questions rather than the formal forums held in the Indian Treaty Room or State Department (Eisenhower EOB) auditorium. In 1969, a new Press Briefing Room was created in the west terrace by covering over a swimming pool installed for President Franklin Roosevelt.
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America Under Fire: Aftermath
Timeline of Events:August 29, 1814: Faced with a British demand to surrender 21 merchant ships, naval and ordinance stores and cotton, flour, tobacco and wines from the city warehouses or face attack from a squadron of seven ships, Alexandria's mayor and council bowed to the inevitable and agreed to the British demand—for they had no reliable defenses or defenders.August 30, 1814: A wa
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Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?
So much about the new United States was new—a democracy in a world full of monarchies, an elected president instead of a king, a people who had claimed the rights and responsibilities of citizens, to name just a few—that it should be no surprise that the location of a capital city would be addressed by the Framers of the
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Romantic Expansions
In our own time thoughts about “the West” have been rather vividly colored by popular culture imagery depicting the rugged individual in mortal conflict with a violent and unyielding terrain. But for many artists and writers of the nineteenth century the West was more an ideal destination than a specific locale. As the nascent United States began to expand westward from
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Nell Arthur's Memorial Window
Stained glass, a medieval art, was revisited in the historically retrospective nineteenth century. The art was a prominent feature of two significant renovation projects in Washington, D.C., during the presidency of Chester Alan Arthur (1881–85). Saint John’s Church in Lafayette Square engaged Lorin, a studio based in Chartres, France, to create stained glass windows for its new pictorial glazing prog
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The President, the Press, and Proximity
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has been the on-grounds quarters for the White House correspondents and news photographers since its construction in 1969–70. Although generally referred to as the White House Press Briefing Room, one of the early project names—the West Terrace Press Center—more accurately takes in its trio of primary functions: press briefings and conferences, workspace, and br
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Sports & Recreation
The White House tennis court, first built in 1902 behind the West wing, was moved to the west side of the south lawn in 1909 to make way for the expansion of Executive office space.A heated indoor swimming pool was built in 1933 for Franklin D. Roosevelt's therapy as he was disabled by poliomyelitis. During President Nixon's first term, this space in