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Leonard Bernstein at the Kennedy White House
In November of 1961, two Washington Post columnists hailed President John F. Kennedy as “the best friend culture has had in the White House since Thomas Jefferson.”1 President Kennedy appreciated the arts and demonstrated his dedication to the arts community throughout his administration. He and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy invited the media to cultural events at the White House, highlighting its role
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Music in Lincoln's White House
Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s most unmusical presidents. He could neither play an instrument nor carry a tune, yet he had a passionate love of music. Many times he left the White House during his tenure to attend the opera at Washington theaters, and when duties held him to the mansion, he invited performers to entertain him and hi
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The Nation's Guest
On September 7, 1825, a tearful Marquis de Lafayette embraced President John Quincy Adams after delivering a farewell speech at the entrance to the White House. The ceremony signified the end of the famed Frenchman’s triumphant return to the United States from 1824 to 1825. This visit inspired patriotic celebrations and expressions across a young country during the waning days of the “Era of G
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John Tyler and Presidential Succession
Just after midnight on April 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison died after only thirty-one days in office. At daybreak on April 5th, Vice President John Tyler received a knock on his door in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he was visiting family. Fletcher Webster, the son of Secretary of State Daniel Webster, delivered the news of the president’s death. By dawn on April 6th
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First Ladies and Cherry Blossoms
Every spring, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,020 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo, Japan, to the city of Washington, D.C. This cherished tradition has deep historic ties to the White House and the nation’s first ladies, beginning with First Lady Helen Herron Taft.For over twenty years, writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, known fo
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An Eisenhower Christmas
The White House has many holiday traditions, some of which are historic and others more recent. New arrivals to the Executive Mansion often bring unique familial rituals that they celebrate alongside time-tested White House and presidential customs. During the holiday season, the president and first lady participate in public traditions such as receiving a tree for the Blue Room, lighting
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Lighting the Menorah: Celebrating Hanukkah at the White House
Throughout the history of the United States, all the nation’s presidents have been Christians.1 In modern times, to celebrate the holidays, starting in early December the White House is decorated with brightly ornamented Christmas trees, garlands festooned over mantels and doorways, and the eighteenth-century crèche, a gift to the White House collection in 1967, gloriously displayed in the East Roo
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The White House State Dinner
A state dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs. It is part of an official state visit and provides the president and first lady the opportunity to honor the visiting head of state and his or her spouse. It is a courtesy, an expression of
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The Other White House
For a four-year period in American history, two official houses carried the name White House. Standing 90 miles apart, across the Virginia landscape, one overlooked the Potomac River and the other the James. They were the same age and architecturally were cousins. Designed by James Hoban, the White House had been rebuilt by him and completed late in 1817, after its destruction
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Making Religion Fashionable
Saint John’s Episcopal Church on President’s Square pleased its architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, almost to excess. Trained in England, Latrobe (1764–1820) immigrated to the United States in 1796 impassioned with republican ideals. He became the first American architect of truly international stature, and he struggled to introduce the architectural profession to the new democratic republic. He worked on many of its mo
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The Floating White House
Presidential yachts sail now on a sea of memories, long sleek ships that were once symbols of the presidency, tools of diplomacy, centers of hospitality, and breezy salt-air retreats from the steamy heat of a Washington summer. But for nearly a century, presidents looking for an easy escape from the strains and tensions of the White House found one on
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The First Fourth of July Celebration at the President's House
Although John Adams was the first president 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 center of the oval saloon (today's Blue Room). The Marine Band played in