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African Americans Enter Abraham Lincoln's White House, 1863-1865
The New Years’ Day reception became a White House tradition with President John Adams in 1801 and ended with President Herbert Hoover in 1932. A gala social occasion that attracted the interest of dignitaries, journalists and the general public, it eventually generated crowds of several thousand people who crashed the White House gates for a glimpse of the president or, best of al
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Paul Jennings
Paul Jennings was born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. His mother, an enslaved woman of African and Native American descent, told him that his father was the local English trader Benjamin Jennings. While Paul had no documented relationship with Benjamin and probably never met him, he did adopt the ‘Jennings’ surname as his own. As a
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The Life of Eugene Allen
Eugene Allen served in the White House for 34 years. Assisting eight presidents, Allen’s top priority was to make the White House a comfortable residence for each chief executive and his family. Allen was born in 1919 on a plantation farm near Scottsville in central Virginia.1 During his youth, he worked as a waiter at a resort in Virginia and at a
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Martha Johnson Patterson: Hostess of the Andrew Johnson White House
Of her family’s role in the White House in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Martha Johnson Patterson, daughter of President Andrew Johnson, admitted, “We are plain people, from the mountains of Tennessee, called here for a short time by a national calamity.”1 One of the five children of President Andrew Johnson and First Lady Eliza McCardle Johnson, Martha
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Arts Advisors in the Kennedy White House
President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s advocacy for the performing arts endures as a vital part of the Kennedy White House legacy. From 1961 to 1963, the White House became a focal point for arts and culture as the administration hosted numerous concerts and performances. One of the most significant White House concerts during the Kennedy years took pl
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The Arts in the Kennedy White House
Historians of American music, art, and dance often explore their subjects through different topical categories such as genres, schools, and periods. This approach involves studying the individuals and groups responsible for various trends, fashions, and styles. It also means examining how these contributions broadly shaped American culture and artistic expression. Presidential historians tend to focus extensively on a respective administration,
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A Friendly Voice
Marian Anderson was a successful American contralto singer known for her enchanting performances in the United States and throughout the world. But it was her 1939 Easter concert at the Lincoln Memorial that brought her national attention and fame. Charmed by her voice and personality, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt cultivated a relationship between the White House and Marian that would last
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Lincoln in the State Dining Room
For over 75 years, George Peter Alexander Healy’s portrait of Abraham Lincoln has remained an important aesthetic element for the White House State Dining Room. Prominently displayed above the central mantel, millions of visitors have seen it during a public tour or on a visit to the White House. Lincoln’s placement in one of the largest rooms on the Stat
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James K. Polk's July 4th White House Celebrations
Beginning with Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and for much of the nineteenth century, the White House hosted an annual reception on July 4. During the administration of President James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849, Fourth of July celebrations held at the White House and near its grounds celebrated the rise of American patriotism intensified by the Mexican-American War and westward expansion. On July 4, 1845,
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James K. Polk: The Mexican-American War and the Daguerreian Era
The presidency of James Knox Polk is underscored, among other things, by the War with Mexico. Amidst a military confrontation along the Rio Grande, Congress overwhelmingly declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846 – the first major conflict for the United States in nearly three decades.1 Shortly after, President Polk and several members of his cabinet sat before daguerreotypist John Plumbe in th
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Harry S. Truman's "Little White House"
Since the creation of the American presidency, there have been presidential vacations. Early chief executives such as George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe preferred the comforts of their private estates. As the nineteenth century progressed, transportation and communications advancements permitted the president to travel greater distances while remaining informed on developing situations and crises. Ulysses S. Grant
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Tennessee in the White House
As he left the White House in 1869, President Andrew Johnson supposedly exclaimed that he could “already smell the sweet mountain air of Tennessee.”1 Despite the considerable distance between Washington, D.C. and Tennessee, there have been numerous connections between the state and the Executive Mansion that highlight Tennessee influence in the history of the president’s home. Three presidents, all servin