You Might Also Like
-
Scholarship
The Revolutionary Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson
Nearly two decades after his election to the presidency, Thomas Jefferson elaborated on the significance of this triumph to his friend Spencer Roane. The “revolution of 1800,” he wrote, “was as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 76.” This transformation was “not effected indeed by the sword…but by the rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage
-
Scholarship
Inauguration of 1861
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed soon after. In the midst of an unprecedented sectional crisis, President Abraham Lincoln entered office on March 4, 1861, to assume leadership of an anxious and worried nation. The Baltimore Sun commented that the “close of an old and the beginning of a new administration of
-
Scholarship
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
-
Scholarship
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
-
Scholarship
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
-
Scholarship
A Widower's Hostess
When President Martin Van Buren assumed office on March 4th, 1837, there was no woman to assume the role of first lady. His wife, Hannah Van Buren, had contracted an illness and died in February 1819, years before he took office.1 President Van Buren hired staff to serve in the absence of a White House hostess. Census records from 1840 list the numerous
-
Scholarship
Pioneering Women of the Woodrow Wilson White House, 1913-1921
American women did not yet possess the right to vote when Woodrow Wilson was elected to his first term in office as President of the United States on November 5, 1912. Despite the efforts of suffrage activists, there was little reason to hope that they would attain that right anytime soon. Although he was an intellectual and a man of high ideals,
-
Scholarship
April 6, 1917
At eight o’clock on the morning of April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson and his wife Edith “threw responsibilities to the winds for a few hours,” boarding their limousine at the White House and riding to a local club where they played golf for a few hours before returning to Washington, D.C. Grave events were afoot there, thanks to Germany’s recent
-
Scholarship
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
-
Scholarship
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,
-
Scholarship
The American Protective League and White House Security During World War One
The United States remained neutral during the early years of World War I, from the outbreak of hostilities in August, 1914, to April, 1917. As a result, the country continued to interact with both the Central Powers and Allied Powers.1 However, security for the White House, President Woodrow Wilson and those closest to him was becoming a concern on the eve of
-
Scholarship
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