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Rebuilding the White House and U.S. Capitol
On August 24, 1814, British forces marched into Washington, D.C. and set fire to the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings. After the British left the city, the government hired James Hoban, designer of the original President's House, to supervise the rebuilding of the mansion and executive office buildings, while Benjamin H. Latrobe returned as Architect of the Capitol.
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Frances Folsom Cleveland's White House Wardrobe
President Grover Cleveland was ill-prepared for the American sovereigns’ (as he referred to the public) fascination with his soon-to-be-bride when he formally announced their upcoming nuptials on May 28, 1886. In an era in which people obtained their news in print, occasionally with the aid of an artist’s sketch, word traveled rapidly about the unusual beauty of Frances Folsom, Cleveland’s 21-year-
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Fashion and Frugality
Sarah Childress Polk (1803–1891) was first lady from 1845 to 1849, during the administration of her husband, James Knox Polk. A fashion trendsetter, she used her keen intelligence, abiding religious faith, pleasant manner, and superb organizational skills to artfully regulate the White House, serve as her husband’s main political partner, and orchestrate an exhausting social schedule of receptions and dinners that helped Polk
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The Press Was Not Impressed
The appearance of military uniforms on White House staff has seemed too threatening to please the public so except during wartime they are avoided in favor of less fanciful dress, usually either copied from a metropolitan police force or the even simpler uniforms of the Secret Service. From time to time the need has been seen at the White House
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Dressing Down for the Presidency
The new British minister to the United States was outraged. Within a few weeks of Minister Anthony Merry’s arrival in Washington, he was reporting to his foreign office in London what he perceived as breaches of diplomatic protocol, and topping his list of grievances were complaints regarding President Thomas Jefferson’s appearance. Merry had accompanied Secretary of State James Madi
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James Madison's Brother Willey
"I am much at a loss how to dispose of Willey,” James Madison wrote to his father on December 8, 1779. “I can not think it would be expedient in the present state things to send him out of the State.”1 Then a member of Virginia’s Council of State, James Madison was referring to his eleven-years-younger brother, William Madison, and plans for Will
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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
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The Solarium
The Solarium on the Third Floor has been called the “The Camp David of the White House.”1 With its floor-to-ceiling windows and its panoramic view of the Washington Monument and the Mall, the Solarium has been from its inception the retreat of first families. Here they find a cozy place where they can escape from their public roles and enjoy the
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Getting It Right
On March 4, 1809, at Washington’s first inaugural ball, one keen local observer recorded that the new first lady, Dolley Payne Todd Madison, who arrived draped in a low-cut, buff velvet gown with a long train, “answered all my ideas of royalty.”1 And in truth she did have a uniquely American interpretation of regality that would keep her center stage for the ei
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 1/22/1937
WASHINGTON, Thursday—Like any other housewife, after a busy day, I have been taking stock of yesterday's activities! I wrote yesterday's column just before I went out to the Parade. Luckily this parade was primarily a military parade though the Governors themselves in their cars, the C.C.C. boys and the National Youth Administration with its floats reminded us of
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 1/4/1937
WASHINGTON, Sunday—I said goodbye to Franklin, Junior1 on Friday afternoon and took the five o'clock train to New York, expecting to have a chance to see a friend that evening. I went from the station straight to her apartment and rang the bell. After a long time the door was opened and I discovered that she expected me at fi
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 11/7/1936
WASHINGTON, Friday—Yesterday was such a glorious day and we dawdled a good deal on the way down, and did not reach the White House until eight-thirty p.m. We dined and I sat down at my desk to straighten out a few things. I read some of the telegrams and letters which had come in since the election, and su