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Bio
John Quincy Adams
On July 11, 1767, John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts to Abigail and John Adams. Over the course of his lifetime, Adams witnessed the American Revolution, the evolution of the new nation, and the crawl toward civil war—almost his entire life was devoted to public service. While he is remembered as vocal opponent of slavery, the reality was more co
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Bio
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia to Jane and Peter Jefferson. His father was a Virginia planter, surveyor, and slave owner. At age fourteen, Jefferson’s father died, and Thomas inherited some thirty enslaved individuals. Jefferson fully embraced the lifestyle of an affluent member of the planter class, and over the course of his lifetime he ow
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Bio
Ulysses S. Grant
On April 27, 1822, Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Grant’s father, Jesse, was a tanner and an abolitionist. Grant received an education from several private schools and later attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating in the middle of his class, Grant was stationed in Missouri where he visited with his former classmate an
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Bio
Jane Harrison
William Henry Harrison’s wife, Anna, was too ill to travel when her husband set out from Ohio for his 1841 Inauguration. The president-elect asked his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, to accompany him and act as hostess until Anna’s proposed arrival in May. Jane Irwin was born on July 23, 1804, in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to parents Archibald and Mary Irwin.1 While visiting fami
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Scholarship
The Vice-Presidency
In 1848, Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts was offered the vice-presidential nomination for the Whig Party, alongside presidential nominee Zachary Taylor. Webster, known for his oratory and quick wit, allegedly responded, “I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin.”1 Notwithstanding Webster’s observation, the vice presidency as an office has gradually grown in power
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Article
Official White House China: From the 18th to the 21st Centuries
The house in which the President of the United States lives has always had a great fascination for American citizens who have come to feel they share in the ownership of the Executive Mansion. Throughout its more than 200 year history, the style in which the house is furnished has been determined—to varying degrees—by the money appropriated by Congress from
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Scholarship
White House Hostesses: The Forgotten First Ladies
First ladies hold a unique place in American history. The collection of first ladies' gowns and artifacts remains one of the most popular exhibitions, visited by millions of annual visitors at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C..1 First ladies are the focus of documentaries, podcasts, books, and scholarly works that examine their lives and contributions
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Scholarship
Coffee and the White House
Coffee is a major global commodity that has shaped the lives of countless people throughout history. It is a beverage with multiple meanings and uses, the most common being its role as an energy stimulant and signifier of social habits. An examination of eighteenth and nineteenth century coffee consumption at the White House demonstrates how coffee became an important part
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Scholarship
Camp David
Sixty miles outside of Washington, D.C. is a rustic wilderness retreat that serves presidents and first families as a secluded getaway from the White House. Camp David was originally built as a camp for federal employees and their families, a project completed in 1938 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the New Deal. The camp is located east of
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Article
The Burning of Washington
Shortly before Mordechai Booth fled the capital on Wednesday, August 24, 1814, he rode over to the President’s House to see whether anyone was still inside. Near the entrance he saw an American colonel who dismounted, walked to the front door, pulled hard on the bell rope, banged on the door, and shouted for the steward, Jean Sioussat, known as French Jo
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Scholarship
The White House Chief Usher
The White House Chief Usher serves as the general manager of the Executive Mansion. In addition to administrative and fiscal responsibilities, the chief usher supervises Executive Residence staff, as well as organizes and directs construction and remodeling projects within the home and on the White House Grounds. This position is considered prestigious and well-established, but this was not always the
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Article
The East and West Wings of the White House
On a cold March 11, 1809, Thomas Jefferson paid the ferryman $1 to take him and his carriage across the Potomac River at Georgetown and headed south toward retirement. What he left behind at the President’s House were unfulfilled dreams of remodeling the still-unfinished mansion and completing its partly built domestic service wings, which were entirely his idea. It is ironic, in re