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Article
The White House Social Secretary
The White House Historical Association began an oral history project in 2010 under the guidance of Maria Downs, the Association’s public affairs director and the White House Social Secretary during the Gerald Ford administration. Ms. Downs recognized that important insights into White House history were slipping away with the passing of social secretaries. They rarely wrote or spoke of their ex
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Article
Frances Cleveland's French Lessons
Frances Cleveland, the bright and beautiful young wife of President Grover Cleveland, was much in demand on the social scene of Washington, D.C., and devised a novel way to set aside several hours a week for her French lessons. Her French teacher would go for a ride with Mrs. Cleveland, driven by Coachman Albert Hawkins, one morning each week.
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Scholarship
An Activist First Lady in Traditional Washington
The following excerpt is from Nancy Beck Young’s Lou Hoover: Activist First Lady, University of Kansas Press, 2004. The White House Historical Association provided a grant to support the book project.Despite all her preparation and planning, Lou Henry Hoover encountered controversy over the issue of race and White House protocol. On June 12, 1929, Jessie DePriest was a White House guest at
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Article
Memoirs of Isabella Hagner 1901-1905
The White House Historical Association has reset the following excerpt of Isabella Hagner’s typescript memoirs, now in the White House collection in the Isabella Hagner James Papers in the Office of the Curator. Editor Priscilla Roosevelt has corrected the typographical errors, modernized some punctuation, added explanatory endnotes, and made a slight rearrangement of the original text in order to pr
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Article
Plumbing in the White House is Not for the Servants
References to the installation of plumbing fixtures began to appear in architectural plan books in the 1840s. Plumbing systems were already known in large hotels and grand mansions by 1833, when water was first piped into the White House. Sometime within the next year, a "bathing room" was established in the east wing. Interim upgrades appear to have been made during
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Article
Under This Roof
When you join the White House staff, you enter a unique community full of surprising paradoxes. The men and women on the staff are loyal to their president and supportive of his or her policies but are also characterized by such a diversity of experience and life outlook that they are nonetheless pushed to travel in different policy directions. Some
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Article
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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Article
The Working White House: A Mirror - The 20th Century
Twentieth-century historical forces and social movements left their marks on the working White House. In 1900, nearly 87,000 inhabitants (almost a third of the population) of Washington, D.C., were black, forming the largest urban community of African Americans anywhere in the United States. However, racial segregation, as a formal policy, was endorsed and enforced in the Taft White House (1909-13), and
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Article
The Working White House: A Mirror - The 19th Century
The occupational culture and management of the 19th-century White House reflected the social climate and ethnic composition of Washington, D.C. The White House staff, like that of many elite Washington households, was racially and ethnically mixed. Because managerial roles were usually assigned to white employees, tensions sometimes developed between white stewards and African American house workers. The Executive Mansion
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Article
The Working White House: A Community of Workers
Every occupational group, whether doctors, teachers, or factory workers, has its own distinctive culture. Each group possesses special skills, language, and knowledge, which are shared and communicated among all group members. Certain workplace behaviors and standards must be maintained, and an understanding of these conventions is regularly conveyed to new members of the occupational group. When members of an occupational
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Article
The Working White House: A Working Family
Family connections among the White House residence staff run strong, and it is not unusual for workers in the Executive Mansion to be children or siblings of other employees. The continuance of these family lines through the generations speaks to the level of confidence and trust that First Families place in the household staff, who are in turn dedicated to
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Article
The Working White House: Continuity and Connection
When a new president moves in, he and his family bring along their own tastes, preferences, and customs. The new family’s ways are often quite different from those of the previous occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Even time-honored White House festivities such as the Pageant of Peace and the Easter Egg Roll have been adapted to reflect the First Family’s en