What It's Really Like to Live in the White House, According to Presidents

Table Of Content

• DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
• Construction
• Republican Party asks the Secret Service to move protesters away from its convention venue.
• WATCH: Biden attends 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner hosted by Colin Jost
• What is the architectural style of the White House?
• What has happened to Donald Trump’s face…?
• State floor

Shawn Fain, the president of the United Automobile Workers, announced late on Friday night a tentative contract at Daimler Truck in North Carolina that appears to have stopped a strike that was scheduled to begin at midnight. Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, showed up at the Politico-CBS dinner pre-party tonight wearing a white, hooded sweatshirt emblazoned with a bow-tie design on its front. Biden, who has forbidden his aides from engaging on Trump’s trials, makes a joke about Trump’s trial, saying he is facing “stormy weather,” an allusion to Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the center of the former president’s current criminal trial.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

In retaliation for the American burning of York, Ontario the previous year, the British forces set fire to the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings. In 1812, war erupted between the United States and Britain over trade disputes and the impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy. Under fourth president James Madison, who famously wrote most of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, the US invaded British Canada, hoping to make quick territorial gains. Unfortunately for Madison, British forces in Canada repelled the American invasion. Then, Britain struck back the following year with an invasion of America’s coast.

Construction

The White House has undergone many renovations throughout its history, starting with Thomas Jefferson, who, along with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, added the East and West Colonnades, which now link the East and West Wings with the Executive Residence. The first major renovation of the White House took place during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, British troops marched on Washington, DC, and burned the White House, the Capitol, and several other public buildings. Hoban returned to rebuild the residence, and while work was completed in 1817, he continued to work on additions for several more years. In 1824, he added the South Portico for James Monroe, and he constructed the North Portico for Andrew Jackson from 1829 to 1830.

Republican Party asks the Secret Service to move protesters away from its convention venue.

“His sharp insights perfectly meet this remarkable time of divided politics, and a presidential campaign careening toward a rematch,” she added. “His smart brand of comedy and keen observation will turn up the heat on the national news media and across the political spectrum. It will be the last such dinner before the 2024 election, giving the president and members of the press a brief respite from the campaign trail as they participate in a Washington ritual designed to celebrate a free press.

WATCH: Biden attends 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner hosted by Colin Jost

In keeping with his ardent republicanism, he opened the house to public visitation each morning, a tradition that was continued (during peacetime) by all his successors. He personally drew up landscaping plans and had two earthen mounds installed on the south lawn to remind him of his beloved Virginia Piedmont. Meanwhile, construction continued on the building’s interior, which still lacked ample staircases and suffered from a persistently leaky roof. During Jefferson’s tenure, the White House was elegantly furnished in Louis XVI style (known in America as Federal style). Since the administration of George Washington (1789–97), who occupied presidential residences in New York and Philadelphia, every American president has resided at the White House. Originally called the “President’s Palace” on early maps, the building was officially named the Executive Mansion in 1810 in order to avoid connotations of royalty.

What is the architectural style of the White House?

The practice continued until 1885, when newly elected Grover Cleveland arranged for a presidential review of the troops from a grandstand in front of the White House instead of the traditional open house. President Bill Clinton briefly revived the New Year's Day open house in his first term. The East Wing, which contains additional office space, was added to the White House in 1942. Among its uses, the East Wing has intermittently housed the offices and staff of the first lady and the White House Social Office. Rosalynn Carter, in 1977, was the first to place her personal office in the East Wing and to formally call it the "Office of the First Lady". The East Wing was built during World War II in order to hide the construction of an underground bunker to be used in emergencies.

On Aug. 24, 1814, during what is now known as the War of 1812, British forces rolled into Washington, descended upon the White House (the President's House then), scarfed down a dinner that had been prepared for the president, his cabinet and some military officers ... "In my mind, there are kind of two [things] that kind of keep presidents in the White House. No. 1 is the symbol. The White House is so linked as a national symbol to the presidency," said Evan Phifer, a historian with the White House Historical Association we spoke to in 2016. "And the second is, in the White House, everything is there. They have security, they have the working space to accommodate a working president."

Presidents are allowed to renovate the White House to fit their personal needs, as well as those of their families. The White House was rather unique in that it was designed to be both a private residence for the nation’s chief executive and a public house that citizens could visit free of charge. At the time, the mansion was not typically called the White House but rather the “President’s House” or “Executive Mansion.” It received its formal title of “White House” in 1901 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Under Article II of the Constitution, the President is responsible for the execution and enforcement of the laws created by Congress. Fifteen executive departments — each led by an appointed member of the President’s Cabinet — carry out the day-to-day administration of the federal government.

WATCH: Biden hosts White House Hanukkah ceremony amid fears of rising antisemitism - PBS NewsHour

WATCH: Biden hosts White House Hanukkah ceremony amid fears of rising antisemitism.

Posted: Mon, 11 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

When other heads of state or government visit the United States, there’s an expectation that the president of the United States will give them a gift. But according to Jennifer Capps, curator and historian at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis, presidents must pay for these gifts out of pocket. Not only that, but there’s a special Gifts Unit within the Office of the Chief of Protocol, which works closely with the staffs of the president, vice president, and the secretary of state to help select the gifts presented to foreign dignitaries from the United States. Home to every president since John Adams in 1800, the White House has undergone many renovations throughout history that reflect the current owners' tastes.

In 1947, a chandelier in the Blue Room almost fell on Bess Truman and her guests from the Daughters of the American Revolution, and in 1948, the leg of Margaret Truman’s piano pierced through the floor of what is now the private dining room. Engineers confirmed that the building was at risk of collapse, and Truman and his family relocated to Blair House, the president’s guesthouse located nearby at 1651 Pennsylvania Ave. Madison insisted on rebuilding on the same spot — using the original architect, James Hoban, and incorporating the scorched mansion's sandstone walls that remained standing — and reconstruction soon began. Madison's successor, James Monroe, had to cool his heels at his home in Virginia while the finishing touches were being applied, but he moved in about six months after his inauguration in 1817. But the White House has endured as a home base for sitting presidents for more than two centuries. The President's Palace (a one-time name) is not always immediately occupied by whomever takes office.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt began a major renovation of the White House, including the relocation of the President’s offices from the Second Floor of the Residence to the newly constructed temporary Executive Office Building (now known as the West Wing). The Roosevelt renovation was planned and carried out by the famous New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White. Roosevelt’s successor, President William Howard Taft, had the Oval Office constructed within an enlarged office wing. The three-level southern façade combines Palladian and neoclassical architectural styles. The south portico was completed in 1824.[33] At the center of the southern façade is a neoclassical projected bow of three bays. The bow is flanked by five bays, the windows of which, as on the north façade, have alternating segmented and pointed pediments at first-floor level.

Biden’s speech before nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live.” Academy Award winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm and Chris Pines were among other stars. But Mr. Biden could also take a victory lap for a spate of good news in recent days. On Wednesday, the president earned yet another crucial union endorsement, this one from North America’s Building Trades Unions, in large part for his signature bipartisan infrastructure package. That same day, he signed another consequential piece of legislation — a $95.3 billion package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that came after months of false starts and brutal congressional infighting. Pete Hoekstra, the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and a former longtime House member himself, said in an interview on Friday that there had been rumblings about Mr. Meijer’s exit from the race.