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The Press at the White House: 1918-1933
During the 1920s, press conferences emerged as a main form of presidential communication with the American people. Warren G. Harding hired professional speechwriter Judson Welliver in 1921 and began to hold public press conferences twice a week. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to use radio to speak directly to the citizens of the nation, broadcasting monthly programs. Herbert Hoover used
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Stage Struck
Two leading ladies appeared at Washington’s National Theatre on the evening of July 2, 1886. On stage was Nellie McCartee, the star of the opera The Black Hussar. In the audience was the 21-year-old first lady Frances Folsom Cleveland, who, exactly one month earlier, on June 2, had married 49-year-old President Grover Cleveland in a White House ceremony. Public opinion was favorable to
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The Press at the White House: 1933-1941
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, the modern period of president-press relations began. FDR held long and informal press conferences in the Oval Office and began the tradition of an annual press reception modeled after state diplomatic events. FDR was the first president to fully exploit radio as a force to promote his programs and policy. On March 6, 1933, First Lady
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The Press at the White House: 1980-1992
Ronald Reagan preferred to present himself and his policies in venues other than a formal presidential press conference. He held about six conferences a year and usually staged them in the East Room at night. George H. W. Bush made frequent use of press conferences in the Press Briefing Room during his first three years in office, holding on average
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Platform Star
During the last three decades of the nineteenth century, Americans were entertained, challenged, educated, and even shocked by an orator who crisscrossed the country by train, delivering more than 1,300 lectures and campaigning successfully for Republican Party presidents and politicians. He was heard by more Americans than any other person before the invention of the radio. His close friend, Walt Whitman,
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Unraveling the Dolley Myths
The spirit of Dolley Madison is everywhere in the blocks surrounding the White House. She lived at 1333 F Street, in the White House, in the Octagon House, and in a former row house in the 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. But nowhere in Washington do visitors better imagine Dolley than at her residence across from Saint John’s Church. Here is wh
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Foreword; White House History (Number 31)
Our interest in the surroundings of the White House extends in this issue to include both public and private places, all except one of which survives today. Elizabeth Smith Brownstein’s longtime interest in Civil War Washington has naturally attracted her to the Willard, the capital’s most revered and venerable grand hotel. Observers in Lincoln’s time thought it rivale
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Notable Prominent Neighbors
Saint John’s Church, Lafayette Square, is the oldest building still in use in the neighborhood of the White House—except for the White House itself. Constructed during 1815–16 under the supervision of the noted architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, it first opened for services on October 27, 1816, and was consecrated on December 27, 1816.1 From its inception, the church has had among its members, and oc
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Days of Destruction: The President's House
After torching the Capitol about 100 British soldiers and sailors headed west down Pennsylvania Avenue with four officers, including Major General Robert Ross and Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn in ceremonial bicorne hats, riding behind them. At the deserted White House, the hot and exhausted invaders found the table set for 40-50 dinner guests and they took to the food and
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President Thomas Jefferson's White House Museum
An issue about the White House and the West naturally draws one’s attention to the expansionism experienced during Jefferson’s administration. While the glow of new, cheap land way out there somewhere reverberated in the average citizen’s mind, natural curiosity made him or her wonder also what the West was like. People knew it was different, and might have s
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Outfitting Jefferson Today
Bill Barker, one of Colonial Williamsburg’s star interpreters, specializes in being Thomas Jefferson. Some Williamsburg costumes are generic, while others, like Barker’s are specific to the characters, for he actually is an actor playing the role of Jefferson in a whole repertoire of historical speeches and Q & A sessions with visitors to the re-created city. Curators, specialists in e
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Woodrow and Edith Wilson: Costumed for the World Stage
Clothes provide a barometer of life, livelihood, status, and culture. They tie the wearer to a moment in history. The most available means of establishing historical provenance for clothing is photography; the maker’s labels sewn into the garment are another means. The medium of photography introduced in 1839 provides extensive contemporary documentation about costume and how it is worn. Historical ph