NEW Veterans Day Edition of White House History Quarterly: “Veterans, The White House, and the Centennial of the End of World War I”

Nov 01, 2018 Washington, D.C. —

The White House Historical Association will release “Veterans, The White House, and the Centennial of the End of World War I” the 51st issue of the award-winning White House History Quarterly, on November 9. This issue is timed to mark the November 11, 2018 Centennial of the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. The issue presents an in depth look at the White House and presidency in wartime and will be available for purchase at shop.whitehousehistory.com upon release.

It includes:

• A never before published photograph album from the collection of the Woodrow Wilson House. Author Stephen T. Moskey sheds light on this exciting artifact, which features daily activities aboard the USS George Washington—President Wilson’s grand and colorful convoy to France to attend the peace meeting at Versailles.
• Stories about the spies and secrets of Washington, D.C., during the war. As battle raged in Europe, foreign agents conducted espionage, sabotage, and influence operations in the American capitol, while American agencies sought to monitor and contain them. Author Thomas Boghardt examines the Zimmerman Telegram and the early career of J. Edgar Hoover.
• Presidential historian Michael Beschloss shares “The Salvation of Mankind,” a chapter from his new book Presidents of War, which details the dramatic debates in the House and the Senate and the decision by Jeanette Rankin—the first woman elected in congress—to vote “no” to the Declaration of War. Beschloss takes us into the tiny usher’s office on August 6, 1917, where President Wilson signed the Declaration of War without fanfare using his wife’s good pen.
• The story of President Woodrow Wilson’s address to a joint session of Congress to call for a declaration of war against the German empire, and the events leading up to it is featured in an article by John Milton Cooper.

Editor of the White House History Quarterly, historian William Seale says, “The close of the first World War on November 11, 1918, ended the first great world war in our history and brought home from the battlefields of Europe some 4.6 million veterans. America’s first world encounter had lasted 1 year, 7 months, and 5 days. It was the Americans’ late entry in 1917 that brought the fight that began in 1914 for Europe to a close and achieved a dubious peace—felt for the years to come. In such a time as a world war, the White House claims full attention and a deep hold on Americans.”

Each issue of the Quarterly also highlights significant presidential sites. In this issue we visit Monticello, Montpelier, and Oak Hill with the Marquis de Lafayette during his 1825 “Leaving Calls” to America when he bid final farewells to his Revolutionary era friends in their retirement: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Madison.

About White House History Quarterly

Published four times each year by the White House Historical Association, this publication features articles on White House history, architecture, fine and decorative arts, and gardens, as well as the life stories of White House occupants and their experiences living in the Executive Mansion. Now in its 20th year of regular publication, the Quarterly has won national and regional awards for content and design, and has attracted a loyal readership of both scholars and laymen in the U.S. and abroad. More than 200 authors have written for the Quarterly and historian William Seal is the founding editor.

Issues of White House History retail for $9.95. To subscribe, visit whitehousehistory.org or purchase single issues at shop.whitehousehistory.org.

For media inquiries or to receive a press copy of this edition, please contact press@whha.org or Jessica Fredericks, Communications Director, at JFredericks@whha.org.