First Ladies
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Left: Lady Bird Johnson reading correspondence. Right: The Johnson family in the Yellow Oval Room.
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The White House and Lincoln's Assassination
Abraham Lincoln had never been more William Tecumseh Sherman’s thrust through the cheerful and carefree in the White House than on his last day alive. Richmond, the Confederate capital, had recently fallen, and it was only five days since Washingtonians had celebrated the deliriously exciting news of Robert E. Lee’s surrender to the Union victor, Ulysses S. Grant. The
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Lady Bird Johnson, A Birthday Tribute
An AppreciationDecember 22, 2012 marks the 100th birthday of Lady Bird Johnson, whose spheres of activity and influence were varied during her six years as the nation’s first lady. She expanded the professionalism of the East Wing staff devoted specifically to the first lady’s projects employing a chief of staff, a press secretary, and support staff to write speeches, maintain cont
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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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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
