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Foreword; White House History (Number 35)
This number of White House History recalls the burning of the White House, which took place in 1814, two hundred years ago this August 24th. It was destruction managed in formal order by the best European military standards of the time. The fire expert in charge, Ensign John Pratt, having fulfilled similar responsibilities in Wellington’s Spanish Campaign, directed the process. Re
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"A Communication Between These Offices"
When David Baillie Warden remarked in 1816 that “it was originally proposed to form a communication between the [executive departmental] offices and the house of the president,” he was referring to the initial idea for a close configuration of all the executive buildings within the President’s Square.1 Four L-shaped wings were shown as attached directly to the President’s House on Pierr
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In a White House Passageway
Arches and vaults are techniques of construction that serve to divert the support of heavy masses that would otherwise require bearing walls or pillars directly beneath them. They have been in use for millennia, forming the structural systems of buildings. Steel beams in the later nineteenth century rendered vaults and arches unnecessary, and indeed generally replaced them. James Hoban built
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A White House Exhibit on the National Parks
Since the Kennedy administration, White House Christmas decorations have been designed each year to coincide with a specific theme. Many themes are based on traditional holiday subjects, while others are associated with projects favored by the first ladies. For Christmas 2007, First Lady Laura Bush chose to showcase our nation’s scenic wonders and historic treasures with “Holiday in the National Park
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Scholarship
Betty Ford: A Very Special Lady
In the fall of 1976 “Keep Betty’s husband in the White House” campaign buttons erupted all over the country—a tribute to a woman unknown to most Americans only three years earlier—and to her grace, candor and lack of pretension.It was my good fortune to have been chosen by Mrs. Ford to serve as her White House social secretary.
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A Kinder Quiet Sense of Humor
Will Rogers is one of the most beloved American celebrities of the twentieth century. Born in 1879 in Oklahoma, Rogers was a true Renaissance man of the era. Best known for his political satire which reached millions of readers through his syndicated newspaper columns, Rogers also acted in vaudeville and starred in film and on radio. The American public loved his
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A White House Staff Reunion
A reunion picnic on June 24, 1983, was the scene of hugging, kissing, and backslapping, as former White House domestic staff greeted one another with laughter, emotion, and plenty of memories.1The 1980s began a series of reunions of former White House workers. Retired chief usher J. B. West was the organizer of the 1983 event. Lillian Rogers Parks, a former maid and
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A White House Usher Remembers Winston Churchill
After the United States entered World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a frequent guest in the Roosevelt White House. Although the Prime Minister's visits were associated with weighty issues, White House workers remembered Churchill with delight and amusement. "The most colorful visitor ever to appear at the wartime White House was Winston Churchill," J. B. West records
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A White House Worker Remembers President Wilson
White House staff in the Woodrow Wilson administration experienced both the death of Wilson's first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, on August 6, 1914; and Wilson's second marriage, sixteen months later. Chief Usher Ike Hoover recalls this sensitive period in the life of President Wilson, and its effect on the White House as a home and workplace.After Ellen Wilson's death, writes Hoover, "
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Orphan Becomes White House Steward
The frigate United States left Port Mahone, Minorca, arriving in New York City on December 25, 1834. On board was an orphan boy about seven years of age, Valentino Melah, a native of Messina, Sicily. His fortunes would lead him into the hotel business in Manhattan (the Astor House), New Orleans (the St. Charles), Long Branch, New Jersey (the Stetson), and his
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Glimpses of the Old Family Dining Room
The Family Dining Room on the State Floor of the White House today is used primarily for smaller formal dinners and working lunches. The space, adjacent to the State Dining Room, also often serves as a staging area for State Dinners. White House families have traditionally dined in the Family Dining Room since about 1825 when President John Quincy Adams and
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Baseball and the White House in the Nineteenth Century
“Baseball is the hurrah game of the republic!” said poet Walt Whitman in 1889, near the end of a century that saw baseball emerge as an enormously popular spectator sport. “More intriguing than a horse race,” noted historian Eliot Asinof, “more civilized than a boxing bout or a cock fight … a pleasant, even exciting afternoon in the sunlight[.]”1