THE WHITE HOUSE STORY

[Music] this is the story of a great house quiet but ever-changing it has been burned and looted subtracted from and added to demolished and rebuilt but still it waits as it has so many times before for what fortune a new tenant will bring the white house and the city of washington were planned to go together in 1790 the land that lay along the potomac river was a swampy wilderness unpromising to all but the imaginative that year under the prodding of president george washington congress passed a bill which would in time produce a city the congressional bill read be it enacted but a district of territory not exceeding 10 miles square on the river potomac be accepted for the permanent seat of the government of the united states but suitable buildings be provided for the accommodation of the president and congress [Music] the cornerstones of the capital and the white house were laid within the same year as a home for the president went up a home necessarily rose for the legislative branch of government the capital like the white house has had a succession of modifications there are many approaches to the white house one is through lafayette park which lies across pennsylvania avenue at first glance it seems very much like other parks [Applause] but since it is across the street from the white house this park has a special air one president andrew jackson has his statue here jackson added the tall white pillars to the white house after he moved in in 1829 plans for such an addition had been left for some future occupant by president thomas jefferson a quarter of a century before [Music] all the presidents of the united states except the first have lived in this house each has put his stamp on the house and in return has been molded by living in it not every president has made a tangible change but each one has added something to the manifold duties and traditions of the presidency and these are inherited by the incoming president along with a brief loan of the white house [Music] it was the first president george washington who steered the city and the white house through their first tortuous years arguing with congress borrowing and cajoling money to pour into the venture while the federal city began to rise along the potomac river presidential homes in new york and philadelphia continuously changed location and while washington and his successor john adams moved from house to house the city commissioners of the capital city took steps toward providing a permanent home for presidents minutes of their meeting of march 14 1792 contained the text for an advertisement a premium of 500 or a medal of that value will be given to the person who shall produce the most approved plan for a president's house thomas jefferson sent in a classic plan much like his own monticello in virginia william thornton first designer of the capital also had a plan but the design that won the prize was submitted by a struggling dublin-born architect james hoban hoban had taken no chances when drawing his plan he had borrowed freely from aristocratic houses in england and ireland his plan determined once and for all just how the white house would look [Music] the wilderness city a capital of miserable huts washington was called these and worse in 1800 eight years had gone into its building and it was still only a raw village scattered along a road called pennsylvania avenue only the north wing of the capital up on the hill had been finished when president john adams came to town in november that month when adams went up to address congress he congratulated them on having at last obtained a permanent home the building stood in bleak surroundings but the site commanded a magnificent view of what one day would be a city in the white house at the other end of the avenue mrs adams was having her own troubles she was shocked by the enormous size of the unfinished unheated house and wrote home to new england about it this house is built for ages to come not one room or chamber is finished to the hole there was no plumbing no fence no drying yard laundry was hung in the great east room but she said the spot itself was capable of every improvement president thomas jefferson improved the house with a french chef and a staff of domestic servants he said it was big enough for two emperors one pope and the grand llama then indulging his love of architecture he enlarged it with the architect benjamin latrobe jefferson drew up plans for oversized columned porticos to be added later nothing warmed the white house as effectively as dolly madison who was jefferson's official hostess for the eight years that madison was secretary of state later as first lady she was described as a fine buxom portly dame fond of parties and paris gowns when she was called your majesty it seemed to fit war was president madison's chief worry he was sure it would not reach washington but on a hot august day in 1814 [Music] the british invaders had set fire to public buildings bridges docks and navy yards [Music] the light thrown out by burning buildings was equal to that of a sunny day townsmen caught in the city looked on in horror as redcoats marched through the streets triumphantly viewing the destruction admiral cockburn towered heroically above the city in flames and his british sailors thought it all had been a joke the white house stood deserted when the soldiers reached it the guard the madisons and all the servants it fled after helping themselves to souvenirs the soldiers set fire to the house flames leap from the mansion during the night of violent storm arose torrential rains put out the fires all over the city an eyewitness described the white house the following day in the president's house not an inch but its cracked and blocked walls remain that scene which was so splendid thronged with the great the gay the ambitious was now nothing but ashes alas this is human grandeur the madisons set up a temporary residence in octagon house and dolly's entertaining went on as before the city which had just begun to grow would have to be built again from the beginning the white house slowly rose again president james monroe moved in while it still smelled of fresh paint to aid their policy of greater social front the monroes furnish the house lavishly with trappings imported from france congressmen gasped when they saw the bills but they were much impressed by the rooms full of crimson damask and giltwood furniture the white house reborn had taken on a shimmering elegance it welcomed a celebrated visitor late in 1824 when the aging marquis de lafayette came to america for the last time he parked the gifts lavished on him in the east room and continued his triumphal tour as a crowning touch to his years in the white house monroe added the south portico from the plans left by thomas jefferson [Music] the people took over when and his worshipers came in droves and made themselves at home it was political and social upheaval one of pity wrote an observer a rabble a mob scrabbling fighting robbing [Music] jackson's courtly side went well with the new luxury of the mansion which he decorated in red blue and yellow a notoriously violent man jackson also aroused violence in others once he barely escaped being assassinated but the would-be murderer's gun missed fire the peggy eaton scandal revolving around the tarnished name of a cabinet wife brought scathing suggestions from the press that peggy was perhaps running jackson's cabinet the president's niece emily donaldson would not speak to peggy when she came to the white house but later on peggy appeared prim enough to please even emily [Music] at jackson's last public reception the people dug into a monstrous smelly cheese placed in the center of the vestibule entire families came to washington by riverboat or train to be in on this last big show in the white house the cheese was gone in two hours but its odor lingered for a year king andrew the yankee king jackson had been called some disparaging names in his day but still he left the white house as popular with a crowd as ever [Music] on a blustery day in march 1841 general william henry harrison went up to the capitol for his inauguration the popular old indian fighter was destined to have the shortest term of office of any president thirty days after his swearing-in while cries of tippecanoe and tyler two still hung in the air president harrison died in the white house for the first time a president received an east room funeral [Music] in washington in the late 1850s the air was heavy with treason talk of secession was heard throughout the city and in the capital congressmen from the south sat next to men who would gladly die for the union in the white house the bewildered pro-slavery president james buchanan was helpless before the flood of north south hadron he did however bring to the mansion a newfound social prestige [Applause] oriental splendor touched the white house in 1860 when the first japanese ambassadors arrived in washington bringing rich gifts for the president the envoys were amazed that the public turned out to stare at them one wrote in his diary what immense crowds there were the streets were like seas of human beings i could not help smiling at the wonder in their eyes the entertainments continue while mr lincoln of illinois was elected to the presidency and south carolina led the march of seven states out of the union at parties on the south grounds the marine band played tunes to please both north and south [Music] and so there began the most tragic era the white house had known from the start lincoln's office upstairs over the east room was besieged by job hunters hungry for post office in consulate places once when he had a light case of smallpox lincoln joked about it now at last i have something i can give all of them there was no let up after the war had begun and a civilian battalion had been recruited for the protection of the white house in spite of the war the east room had its full quarter receptions and balls when mr lincoln stood shaking hands for hours on end mary lincoln with the eyes of society upon her competed frantically with other women in the extravagance of her dress an abolitionist raged against spending money on clothes and entertainment in wartime but 11 year old willie lincoln died in the second winter of the war and mary lincoln had little heart for [Music] parties because of their grief the lincoln's banned music inside and out of the white house and mrs lincoln would never again enter the room where willie had lane the war went on interminably lincoln buried his sorrow under a mountain of presidential and military duties his search for a satisfactory general ended with ulysses s grant the lincoln's had to find time for receptions at which military figures were now the most important guests the end of the war was in sight when lincoln was assassinated as he sat in the theater box mrs lincoln prostrated in an upstairs role could not escape the agonizing sounds of the state funeral and the ponderous dirties of the marine band [Music] the black canopied hearse carried the coffin to the train for the long roundabout trip back to springfield and mary lincoln still lay in a darkened room shattered and ill that summer with the arrival of a new president andrew johnson there were band concerts on the white house lawn again [Applause] the lustre of his name took general ulysses s grant into the white house after the war [Music] and a suggestion of the sporting life went with him daily grant strolled out of the stables to visit his favorite racehorses egypt and cincinnati and a pony named red who had been captured at vicksburg [Music] reb and billy button carried the grandchildren to school each morning in summer the grants with full entourage visited the seashore remove required car loads of clothing and trappings the grants and friends dressed up in city clothes when they sat on the front porch of their seaside cottage the cold-eyed grant was a consecrated family man and mrs grant was his greatest admirer her father was colonel dent of missouri the most engaging member of the family was nelly who at the age of 18 made a brilliant marriage to an english aristocrat wedding presents streamed into the white house and were displayed for the admiration of visitors for the ceremony nellie's stiff little bridal bouquet carried a tiny banner flaunting the word love [Music] [Applause] elaborate entertaining was expected from the white house and the grants gladly met the demands behind a flowery jungle of table decorations guests at their dinner parties consumed a feast of two dozen courses accompanied by the proper wine filtering at white house receptions was not considered serious [Music] but when president grant discovered that there was grant going on within his own cabinet he called the guilty member to the white house [Music] after a long and tearful scene the heartbroken secretary of war was dismissed [Music] inauguration night again called for some noisy excitement and a speech from the new president the lofty proud reform-minded rutherford b hayes the hayes family set an example of quiet victorian home life with sunday evening hymn singing in the upstairs parlor and the banning of all alcoholic beverages mrs hayes was dubbed lemonade lucy in worldly quarters but to the conservative she was a national heroine a female journalist praised her extravagantly i have never seen such a face reign in the white house i wonder what the world of vanity fair will do with it will it frizz that hair powder that face the answer was clearly no at white house receptions for ladies there were no frizzes in her hair no rats no puffs on her head and there was no bustle on mrs hayes dress from the days of thomas jefferson western indians had come to see the president they came to see hayes too and the eternal business of treaty making went on in the offices and parlors of the white house the bells bonfires and skyrockets were for president james a garfield's inauguration but garfield's days in the white house were tragically brief four months later he was shot by a political fanatic as he stood in a crowded washington railroad station by the time an ambulance arrived to carry the president to the white house he seemed to be near death but garfield rallied and there began a grim heartbreaking summer of waiting his attacker charles guiteau defended his act when he talked to reporters messengers continuously carried news of garfield's condition to the newspapers the public hung on the slightest word from the white house as hopes for the president's recovery rose and fell [Music] [Applause] garfield's family continue their show of courage in the face of disaster in late summer an electrical device was used in an effort to find the exact location of the bullet but the experiment was a failure alexander graham bell inventor of the machine had warned that it would fail if there were any metal near the bed nevertheless garfield's mattress had been placed on steel springs the president sensing the hopelessness of his case had begged to be taken to the seashore it was a complicated move to alberon new jersey workmen had labored day and night to lay a track right to the door of the presidential cottage while garfield's life slowly ebbed away all government business came to a halt cabinet members settle down nearby to wait out the ordeal which stretched before crowds kept up a vigil day and night along the beach in front of the house [Music] [Applause] on the night of september 19 1881 the long-suffering president died in washington the white house like the nation was in mourning [Music] a touch of romance lightened the gloom which had settled over the white house when president grover cleveland married francis folsom in the only wedding of a president in the white house the beautiful young mrs cleveland was the perfect hostess in an era of considerable grandeur and the perfect wife and mother the cleveland's had plans drawn for enlarging the white house but they got nowhere later mrs benjamin harrison's plans were also unsuccessful fortunately in the opinion of many the leading design encompassed salons anti-rooms rotundas filled with statuary conservatories and winter gardens there was no denying that the president's family needed more room but it was thought there must be a simpler way to get it in the 1890s a greater part of the american public than ever before or after got an intimate look at the inside of the white house there were many approaches the east entrance was coldly formal [Music] the south gate where the watchman and his dog dash had matching houses much more friendly members of presidential families were often on the south lawn a messenger was on hand at the north entrance and a hard-hated cop at the front door the office staff would gladly leave its quarters on one of the special days there were always visitors waiting in the vestibule the fancy tiffany screen would slide aside to admit them to the inner rooms the east rome awe-inspiring by virtue of its size and the magnificent associations of the past but genuine steamboat palace nonetheless it's ostentatious tone still in fashion after decades it was still acceptable in the 90s to drop into call or at least to leave a card indicating that an invitation would be appreciated the red parlor jammed to the rafters with fringe bric-a-brac bebelos plush potted plants oversized bosses and the eagle crown screen [Applause] the state dining room table was set with the decorations imported from france by president monroe they had been considered an extravagance in 1817 and the president had been criticized for spending so much money the private stairway led up to the family quarters bedroom was the grandest room of them all it was a mystifying mixture of the regal and comfortable the old victorian bed used by abraham lincoln was now royally canopy but lincoln ghost stories still centered around it they had him walking around it or as one guest would see the ghost said sitting on it putting on his shoes in the nursery the younger children had a world of their own where a little girl could forget her manners mothers could visit occasionally [Music] some utilitarian aspects of the mansion homely but necessary were hidden away in the basement old jerry had seen many white house occupants common goal [Music] the office stairway is so well trotted by favor seekers from the beginning a visitor described it in an unforgettable way as i go up the stairs the atmosphere is heavy and close on this stairway and affects one singularly perhaps the size of disappointed officers who for more than half a century have descended the steps have permeated the walls and give to the air a quality that defies ventilation in the waiting room all these people are eager-eyed restless and nervous they want something which the great man in that well-guarded room can give if he chooses but which they fear they will not get [Music] under the spell of president mckinley's charm even unsuccessful job seekers went away happy the cabinet room was next door to the president's office altogether the executive offices took up half of the second floor a special nook was set aside for the chief of the white house police nearby was a map room for military planning [Music] and the telegraph clicked away [Music] [Applause] [Music] incessantly [Applause] white house communications both by telegraph and telephone had begun to extend their range widely the 19th century came to its stately close and the white house ended its first hundred years appropriately near the start of the new century a young man president theodore roosevelt moved into the mansion roosevelt loved the white house once he had cleared out its old-fashioned trappings the famous tiffany screen which had kept drafts from the inner rooms for two decades was the first thing to go then roosevelt got rid of the greenhouses the showplace of the house the sprawling jumble of conservatories that leaned against the west wall had been accumulating for nearly a century as each first lady had added her favorite flowers they were demolished to make room for an executive wing and the compact building rose in their place the offices were out of the white house proper and into quarters of their own at last a well-known characteristic of the roseville family was its love of pets [Music] every breed of animal and bird was collected white house police in those days were few but choice often a man would spend his entire adult years there gradually seeming to belong to the household the roosevelt children would not miss a chance to be with them and often showed up for police roll call roosevelt took for granted that president taft would follow carefully in his footsteps while in office but taft had his own ideas about running the government the conscientious president was not happy in the white house however and the more he worried the more his weight rose in spite of all his exercising an outsized bathtub had to be installed in the white house only taft's intimates knew how the hard-working president chafed under the duties of office the tafts in the best white house tradition kept a cow named pauline wayne she was the last of a long line of cows and horses that had munched the presidential grass president woodrow wilson's sheep also grew fat on the white house grass after the first world war began their woe brought 100 000 at an auction for the red cross wilson's first cabinet included william jennings brian as secretary of state incongruously wilson often entertained his cabinet with jokes and dialect stories and he liked to boast to his family that he could have made the grade in show business if he had really wanted to the selfie facing mrs wilson became ill after they went to live in the white house she died in the summer of 1914 her last words to the family physician were take care of woodrow god has stricken me almost beyond what i can bear wilson wrote a friend the day after her death adding to the strain of his grief was anxiety over the outbreak of war in europe the start of president wilson's second term he had married again his bride was the attractive edith galt who was to be his greatest source of encouragement in the ordeals to come after our entry into the war in april 1917 the white house again became a military center wilson for the first time talked by radio to a plane overhead for seven years suffragettes carried on their fight for votes for women the president admitted that at times they were a little frightening vitriolic criticism of his post-war leadership and the shattering of his dream of a league of nations destroyed wilson's health [Music] he spent his remaining days in the white house as an invalid and the public only occasionally got a glimpse of him when he was taken for a drive a disillusioned wilson saddened and frail accompanied president-elect warren g harding to the capital for harding's inauguration no president had looked the part more perfectly a small town warmth pervaded all the harding parties and receptions the administration got off to a promising start the white house vibrated with gaiety and there were visits from famous personages madame eve curie was given a reception [Music] and the scientist albert einstein brought a party to see the popular president but harding's term was not half over before there were persistent rumors of dishonesty in high places when the hardings left on their alaskan trip in the summer of 1923 the president suspected that his administration was in ruins during the journey he asked reporters what a president should do when betrayed by friends sick with worry he collapsed on the return trip and died in san francisco while the empty rooms awaited a new president the train brought harding back to washington his devoted laddie boy still watched for his return calvin coolidge was untouched by the harding scandals dry and taciturn coolidge could nevertheless smile when he wanted to certainly on political occasions and he soon rode the crest of the popularity way [Music] some thought mrs coolidge was one of the president's greatest assets all ages enjoyed the white house when she was there pets again had a heyday mrs coolidge even had a bdi'd raccoon named rebecca in the 1920s if you needed some surefire publicity the white house was the place to go western indians visiting washington now were photographed on the steps mr and mrs dahl of the circus sat on the arms of the circus giant and all three benefited tom mix of hollywood westerns rode his horse right up to the south portico and later cavorted on the ground president herbert hoover's administration began auspiciously but in the autumn of 1929 it was overtaken by economic disaster as if the president did not have enough worries the executive wing had a ruinous fire which made the offices unusable for months government business had to be carried on elsewhere if it is a revolution it is a peaceful one said president franklin delano roosevelt an answer to attacks on his new deal measures before long certain other fdr trademarks were as famous as the smile and the cigarette holder the president's fireside chats lifted the spirits of the nation during the depression years two small grandchildren ciste and bussie dahl bore their share of white house publicity fdr thrived on press conferences although he might explode in anger afterwards during the sessions he managed to keep in control only the most important persons were permitted to visit the president in his upstairs study but fala his pet scotty came to see him daily not content with attacks on me they now include my little dog falla roosevelt complained of his political foes fala nearly made the trip up to the capitol for roosevelt's third inauguration but fala had to go to make room for roosevelt rayburn and barkley secretary of state cordell hull was still carrying on negotiations with japanese peace and boys nomura and kurosu in the early winter of 1941 and president roosevelt had received them at the white house when on december 7th the japanese made an all-out attack on pearl harbor from that time off the white house was the base for operations but roosevelt traveled widely as commander-in-chief of the armed forces a great joy of roosevelt's remaining days was his large family on the day of his fourth inauguration he was photographed with mrs roosevelt and their 13 grandchildren when president harris truman and mrs truman came to live in the white house it had seen almost a century and a half of hard use mr truman had always taken a great interest in architecture and building and he found that the house was literally falling down a wag said it was staying up solely from habit president truman soon initiated the three year long six million dollar restoration for which he had to vacate the white house as the interior walls came down in preparation for rebuilding some surprising discoveries were made original stones fire blackened in the 1814 burning a well from the days of president thomas jefferson a gold leafed ceiling decorated for president monroe ornate plaster work was removed from ceilings and walls cataloged and carefully packed away bulldozers excavated for a two-story basement and the steel framework rose inside the outer walls which was strengthened by concrete underpinnings service rooms went under the grounds [Applause] all over the house highly skilled crews of painters carpenters electricians and plasterers set up special shops and for the next three years the intricate job of putting the white house together again went on at last it was time to put the old chandeliers up again in an uncluttered and elegant east room the blue room walls got a silken covering in blue and gold and this most formal of parlors looked as it was intended to look by its designers [Music] the celebrated lincoln bed found itself in a new setting the solarium looking out on the south grounds got new furnishings the roof had some notable additions even the grounds were done over but president truman had only become settled in the renewed mansion when he had to relinquish it to the next tenant [Music] in january 1953 president dwight d eisenhower and mrs eisenhower came to live in the white house they soon succeeded in imparting a warm domestic air to the stately and rather formal mansion at the same time they kept up the tradition of receiving distinguished personalities visitors to the eisenhower white house noted that every part of the great house reflected a simple dignity the president's office with its symbols of office always on display confirmed this feeling president eisenhower summed up in simple language the importance of the white house to the nation we must never minimize what the white house just as a building means to america i have seen strong men come into that building with tears on their cheeks i think the white house should never be overshadowed by anything or ill-treated on december 6 1960 president eisenhower had an especially important visitor in the person of the new president-elect john f kennedy and january 20th 1961 saw the formal swearing-in of the 35th president the youngest man ever elected to the presidency president kennedy and mrs kennedy entered the white house with the enthusiastic best wishes of the nation when the small kennedy children arrived the domestic picture was complete [Music] a new president sits in the white house and from his office in the west wing comes some of the most important decisions in the world the ceremonial center of the mansion is still the state dining room as the appointed moment for a dinner approaches candles cast their glow over the tables and walls exactly as they have for over a century and a half carved in the marble of the room's fireplace is a profound wish written by president john adams in the year 1800 i pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and that all that you'll hereafter inhabit it may none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof the enduring qualities of the white house have lived on within its thick sandstone walls the vision of washington who did not live to see his dream the spacious and ordered concepts of jefferson the spirit of jackson the patience of lincoln and the reason and daring of other presidents great men and women have lived in the white house and will continue to live there for in the words of the first tenant this house is built for ages to come you