White House Press Secretary
Incumbent Jay Carney since February 11, 2011
Formation	1929
First holder	George Edward Akerson
Website	whitehouse.gov/briefing-room

The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration.

The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and issues the administration's reactions to developments around the world. The Press Secretary interacts with the media, and deals with the White House press corps on a daily basis, generally in a daily press briefing.

The Origins of the White House Press Secretary role[link]

Presidential-press relations prior to the establishment of the role[link]

In August 2006, President George W. Bush hosted seven White House Press Secretaries before the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room underwent renovation. From left, Joe Lockhart, Dee Dee Myers, Marlin Fitzwater, Bush, Tony Snow, Ron Nessen and James Brady (seated) with his wife Sarah Brady.

During the United States's early years, the White House staff or various White House Offices were not as robust as they are today and there was not a single designated staff person or office responsible for managing the relationship between the President and the growing number of journalists and media entities that were covering him.^[1] It was not until after President Abraham Lincoln's administration that Congress formally appropriated funds for a White House Staff, which at first consisted merely of a Secretary.^[1] Ulysses S. Grant's White House Staff official numbered six people at a cost of $13,800, though he supplemented with personnel from the War Department.^[1] Fifty years later under the Coolidge Administration, the staff had increased to just fewer than fifty people at a cost of nearly $100,000.00.^[1]

As Presidents increasingly hired more staff to support them in the execution of their duties, some showed a tendency to pick aides and confidantes who had backgrounds in the field of journalism.^[1] One of Abraham Lincoln's private secretaries, John Nicolay, had been an editor and owner of a newspaper in Illinois before he worked for the President in the White House.^[2] While the modern equivalent of a private or personal secretary to the President of the United States would be more narrowly concerned with the care and feeding of the President,^[3] the small size of the White House staff at that point meant that Nicolay interacted with the press occasionally in carrying out his duties.^[2] He was occasionally asked to verify stories or information that various members of the press had heard.^[2] Though the title and establishment of the roles and responsibilities of the Press Secretary job was still decades in the future, the small and growing White House staff was increasingly interacting with a growing number of professional journalists and mass media entities covering the President and the White House.^[2] Andrew Johnson was the first President to grant a formal interview request to a reporter, sitting down with Col. Alexander K. McClure from Pennsylvania.^[4] It should be noted that while various Presidents and reporters had participated in conversations or dialogues with reporters prior to Johnson, the exchanges had been less formal.^[5]

The Cleveland and McKinley Administrations[link]

Prior to the 1880s and the Presidency of Grover Cleveland, the relationship between the President, his administration and the small but growing number of newspapers covering him was such that there was little need for a formal plan or designated spokesperson to manage it.^[1] The relationship between government and the press was not as inherently adversarial and arms length as it is today. In fact, prior to the establishment of the Government Printing Office (GPO), some newspapers were awarded contracts to print government publications and often awarded the President with support in exchange.^[1] For example, the Gazette of the United States won an early U.S. Treasury Department contract and was supportive of then-President Washington.^[1] In general, though coverage of the President could be harsh and opinionated, newspapers were to some degree extensions of the political party apparatus and subsequently not seen as entities requiring specific, sustained management by the White House or administration.

The media environment had changed significantly by the time Grover Cleveland was elected to the Presidency in 1885. Between the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Cleveland's election, the country had grown more than four times in size and increased in population from 2.5 million to approximately 56 million.^[4] The number of newspaper publications in active circulation had increased from approximately thirty seven to over twelve hundred dailies, with more publication such as monthly magazines popping up rapidly.^[4] The rapid growth in journalism as a booming industry resulted in an increase in reporters covering the activities of the President.^[6] When Grover Cleveland married Francis Folsom in 1886, the growing number of reporters and increasing aggressiveness in their style of coverage led to frustrations when the President and his new bride were unable to rid themselves of the reporters who had followed them to their honeymoon in the Blue Ridge Mountains.^[6] President Cleveland relied on his private secretary, Daniel Lamont, who had once been an editor of the Albany Argus, to keep the reporters at bay.^[6] The controversy surrounding coverage of the trip resulted in a public debate about the balance between the right of the President and his family to privacy and the role of the press in covering the country's most public figure, regardless of where or what he is doing.^[7] In an editorial, the New York World defended the right of the press to cover the President at all times:

The idea of offending the bachelor sensitiveness of President Cleveland or the maidenly reserve of his bride has been far from anybody's thought…We must insist that the President is public property; that it is perfectly legitimate to send correspondents and reporters to follow him when he goes on a journey, and to keep watch over him and his family.^[7]

The debate over the coverage of Grover Cleveland's honeymoon is not dissimilar from disagreements between the first family and the press within the last decade. Even before he was President, then-Senator Obama became irritated with his campaign press pool when he felt they were too close to him and his daughters as they trick or treated on Halloween.^[8]

The White House Press Corps[link]

At the end of the Cleveland administration, a new feature of press coverage of the White House materialized. William Price, a southern reporter, auditioned for a job at the Washington Evening Star by stationing himself at the White House to seek out stories.^[9] He interviewed guests coming and going from meetings or events with the President and ultimately reported a story in a piece carrying the headline "At the White House."^[9] Competitor newspapers responded by sending their own reporters to cover the White House in a daily, sustained way and soon the White House had reporters dedicated to covering the "White House beat." Some point to this as the early origins of a more formal White House Press Corps.^[9]

When President Cleveland was elected to a second, non-consecutive term in 1893, George B. Cortelyou, formally trained as a stenographer, was named confidential stenographer at the White House and later named executive clerk.^[10] Though he was not given the formal title of private secretary to the President until later and the term Press Secretary had not yet been conceived, Cortelyou was highly respected by the press and William McKinley's biographer, Margaret Leach, called Cortelyou "the first of the presidential press secretaries."^[10] President Cleveland's successor, William McKinley, kept Cortelyou on during the transition and later formally named him private secretary to the President, though he had been informally doing the job for some time prior.^[11] Under McKinley, Cortelyou became notable for his popularity with journalists covering the White House.^[12] The correspondents relied on him for information and his tenure as private secretary was noteworthy for some of the same working traits modern press secretaries have become popular for,^[13] including providing information to reporters later in the evening if events had transpired in the afternoon, offering advance copies of remarks prepared for the President, and ensuring reporters received transcripts of unprepared remarks made by the President while traveling, which were recorded by a stenographer.^[12] Cortelyou also circulated noteworthy stories to the President and other staffers (by this point the White House staff numbered approximately 18),^[11] which is similar to the exhaustive news summaries formally distributed to the White House staff in the modern era.^[14] The nascent press corps' appreciation for Cortelyou's responsiveness is similar to how a modern White House Press Secretary's responsiveness to the press corps can shape their positive or negative view of him or her.^[15]

Working space in the White House for the press corps[link]

The White House "beat" concept that had been started during the Cleveland administration by reporter William Price was continued during the McKinley administration.^[11] Around the time of the outbreak of the Spanish American war in 1898, the reporters covering the White House were invited into the mansion itself and provided with space to write, conduct interviews, and generally cover the White House.^[11] Now reporting from inside the White House, the reporters used their new location to interview guests entering or leaving the White House or confirm pieces of information from the President's secretaries as they passed through in the course of their duties.^[11] Reporters working in the White House did, however, honor an unspoken rule and refrain from asking the President himself a question if he happened to walk through their working area.^[11]

The long-term presence of the White House Press Corps in the White House was cemented by Theodore Roosevelt, who asked that planners include permanent space for the press corps in the executive office building now called the West Wing, which he had ordered built in the early 1900s.^[16] It is the West Wing that ultimately housed the Office of the Press Secretary^[17] and the now-famous James. S. Brady press briefing room, which was redone by the George W. Bush administration in 2007.^[18]

The Woodrow Wilson administration[link]

When Woodrow Wilson was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1911, he asked Joseph P. Tumulty to serve as his Private Secretary.^[19] When he was elected President two years later, he brought Tumulty with him to the White House, where Tumulty served as Private Secretary to the President.^[19] As Private Secretary, Tumulty dealt extensively with the press.^[20] At the outset of the administration, Tumulty convinced Wilson, who was known for his distaste of the press,^[19] to hold news conferences on a regularized schedule, sometimes as much as twice every week.^[21] During the first such news conference, over one hundred reporters crowded into Wilson's office to ask him questions.^[22] Wilson often requested that reporters not publish answers given in these settings and on one occasion threatened to cancel the news conferences when a reporter revealed comments he had given regarding Mexico.^[22] The press conferences were later discontinued after the sinking of British liner Lusitania, and despite attempts to revive them during his second term were held only sporadically during Wilson's final years in office.^[23]

Joseph Tumulty also put into place a more regular schedule of briefing the press.^[22] He gave daily briefings to the press in the morning, which were attended by as many as thirty reporters.^[22] By formalizing the press briefing process, Tumulty laid the groundwork for what would later be called the White House Press Briefing.^[24] Tumulty also worked to clarify embargo rules for the press, ordering that the exact time a press embargo was lifted be noted on the confidential information that was being released.^[24]

The Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover administrations[link]

Despite being nicknamed "Silent Cal," many reporters covering the White House found President Calvin Coolidge to be fairly accessible once he took office in 1923 following the death of President Warren G. Harding.^[25] During his over five years in office, Coolidge held approximately 520 press conferences, which averaged out to nearly 8 per month.^[25] The term "White House spokesman" was used extensively for the first time during the Coolidge administration, as press conference rules mandated that reporters could attribute quotes or statements only to a "White House spokesman" and not directly to the President himself.^[25] Some have said that this practice was a precursor to the more modern use of "senior administration official"^[26] offering statements or quotes not directly attributable to a specific person, which was used frequently by Henry Kissinger during the Nixon Administration.^[27]

When Herbert Hoover assumed the Presidency in 1928, he brought his longtime aide George Akerson to Washington with him as his private secretary.^[28] Akerson did not have the formal title of "press secretary," but was the designated person to speak on behalf of President Hoover.^[28] Hoover asked the White House Correspondents Association to form a committee to discuss matters pertaining to coverage of the White House and formalized news conferences, dividing Presidential news into three different categories: 1) announcements directly attributable to the President 2) statements attributable to official sources, but not to the President himself, and 3) background information for the reporter's knowledge but not specifically attributable to the President or the White House.^[29]

George Akerson continued the tradition of meeting daily with reporters, and though usually of jovial temperament, was not known for the precision that was the hallmark of some of his predecessors, such as Cortelyou.^[30] On one occasion, he incorrectly stated that sitting Supreme Court Justice Harlan Stone had been elevated to be Chief Justice, only to have to issue a statement later that the actual nominee was Charles Evans Hughes.^[30] Akerson also struggled at times with his role in a growing White House staff.^[30] Akerson was one of three secretaries to the President, and some speculated that Hoover's closeness to his other secretary, Lawrence Richey, a former detective and Secret Service agent, made it difficult for Akerson to obtain the kind of information he needed to effectively do his job.^[30] As poor coverage made President Hoover appear detached and out of touch amidst a worsening depression, Richey and Akerson disagreed about the most effective press strategy, with Akerson promoting the idea that Hoover should leverage the increasingly influential platform of radio, and Richey arguing that the radio strategy was not worthy of the Presidency.^[31] Akerson resigned not long thereafter, and Theodore Joslin, a former reporter, was named as the new secretary.^[31] Relations between the Hoover Administration and the press continued to decline.^[32]

The Roosevelt Administration, Steve Early, and the first "White House Press Secretary"[link]

During the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, former journalist Stephen Early became the first White House secretary charged only with press responsibilities.^[32] The manner in which Early approached his portfolio and increasingly high-profile nature of the job have lead many to state that Early is the first true White House Press Secretary, both in function and in formal title.^[32] Prior to joining the Roosevelt campaign and administration Early had served as an editor to the military paper Stars and Stripes and also as a reporter for the Associated Press.^[33] When Roosevelt was nominated on James Cox's ticket as the Vice Presidential nominee in 1920, he asked Early to serve as an advance representative.^[33] As an advance representative, Early traveled ahead of the campaign, arranged for logistics and attempted to promote positive coverage for the candidates.^[33]

When President Roosevelt won the Presidency in 1932, he chose Early to be his secretary responsible for handling the press, or as the role was becoming known, "the press secretary."^[34] After accepting the job, Early laid out for Roosevelt his vision of how the role should be conducted.^[34] He requested having unfettered access to the President, having his quotes and statements directly attributable to him as press secretary, and offering as much factual information to the press as it became available.^[34] He also convinced Roosevelt to agree to twice-weekly Presidential press conferences, with the timing of each tailored to the different deadline schedules of the White House Press Corps.^[34] Early also made himself available to the press corps as often as he could, and though he was not known for a lighthearted or amiable demeanor, he earned a reputation for responsiveness and openness, even having his own telephone number listed unlike some of those who held the job after him.^[34]

Despite the unpopularity of the press conferences by the end of the Hoover administration, Roosevelt continued the tradition.^[35] He did away with written questions submitted in advance and mandated that nothing he said in the press conferences could be attributed to him or the White House, but was instead intended for the reporters' general background information.^[35] Many reporters found this helpful, as it allowed the President to be forthright and candid in his assessments and answers to their questions.^[35] Unlike some of his predecessors who filled the role, Early routinely prepared Roosevelt for his press conferences, bringing the President's attention to issues that might come up, suggesting the appropriate answers, and even planting questions or issues with certain reporters.^[36] The press conferences also began a tradition where the senior wire reporter concludes the session by stating, "thank you, Mr. President," signaling that the time for questioning is over,^[36] a tradition that continues today.^[37] Roosevelt held well over 300 press conferences in his first term.^[36]

Though some reporters were unsatisfied with the amount of real news or new information they were getting from the press conferences, the Roosevelt administration under Early's leadership was considered by many to be effective at managing the White House's relationship with the press.^[38] During the administration, U.S. News reported that "The machinery for getting and giving the news runs about as smoothly as could be wished from either side."^[38]

The Roosevelt White House was also marked by a significant increase in the number of White House staff supporting the President and bureaucracy in general, largely as a result of increased New Deal funding.^[39] Early was criticized at times for attempting to closely manage the press officers at various department and agencies across the government, and gave out a number of such jobs to journalists who he knew, instead of the party loyalists who had traditionally received such appointments.^[40] A congressional investigation several years later revealed that across the government, just fewer than 150 employees were engaged in public relations along with an additional 14 part-time workers.^[40] This is a significant increase given that the White House staff numbered 11 in total when Roosevelt took office.^[38]

Early was involved in Roosevelt taking advantage of the radio medium through his fireside chats, an idea some say he got from George Akerson who had unsuccessfully tried to convince President Hoover to do something similar.^[41] Early also came under fire for the rules surrounding African American journalists not being allowed to attend Presidential press conferences.^[42] Some have said that Early used enforcement of the standing rule, which had been to only allow regular Washington journalists to attend the press conferences, to deny press conference access to black reporters.^[42] Since many if not most of black publications at the time were weeklies, they were restricted as a result of the rules.^[42] When African American reporters from daily publications requested access to the conferences, Early reportedly told them to seek accreditation from capitol hill press officers, which was another sometimes insurmountable challenge.^[42] African American reporters did not gain formal approval to attend White House news conferences until 1944.^[42]

Early's tenure as press secretary was also marked by stringent restrictions on photographers, largely aimed at hiding the severity of FDR's polio or his worsening immobility.^[43] Photographers were not permitted to be closer than 12 feet of FDR, or thirty feet in larger events.^[43]

As a result of the increasingly high-profile nature of the job and Early's sole responsibility of managing the White House press operations, it was during the Roosevelt administration that Early and the position he held began to be formally referred to as the press secretary.^[44] As a result, many point to Steve Early as the first "White House Press Secretary."^[44]

General responsibilities[link]

The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and around the world, and interacting with the media, generally in a daily press briefing. The information includes items such as a summary of the President's schedule for the day, whom the president has seen, or had communication and the official position of the administration on the news of the day.

The Press Secretary traditionally also fields questions from the White House press corps in briefings and press conferences, which are generally televised, and "press gaggles", which are on-the-record briefings without video recording, although transcripts are usually made available.

The position has often been filled by individuals from news media backgrounds:

• Roosevelt administration – Stephen Early, a reporter for United Press International and correspondent for The Associated Press.^[45]
• Truman administration – Jonathan W. Daniels, a newspaper man who was in the Franklin Roosevelt administration in multiple agencies and on various boards just prior to becoming Press Secretary;^[46] Charlie Ross, a journalist who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932;^[47] Early; Joseph Short, a newspaper man;^[48] and Roger Tubby, a reporter and editor turned Democratic National Committee spokesman before becoming White House Press Secretary.^[49]
• Eisenhower administration – James C. Hagerty, a reporter for The New York Times.^[50]
• Kennedy administration – Pierre Salinger, a reporter and editor for theSan Francisco Chronicle.^[51]
• Johnson administration – appointed George Christian, a reporter for International News Service^[52] and PBS Commentator Bill Moyers.^[53]
• Ford administration – appointed Jerald terHorst, a newspaper veteran;^[54] and Ron Nessen, an NBC News correspondent.^[55]
• Reagan administration – Larry Speakes, a newspaper man;^[56] and Marlin Fitzwater, a newspaper man.^[57]
• George H.W. Bush administration – Marlin Fitzwater.^[57]
• George W. Bush administration – Tony Snow, a veteran journalist and Fox News anchor.^[58]
• Obama administration – Jay Carney, Time Magazine journalist.^[59]

List of Press Secretaries[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Briefing Room at the official White House website
• George W. Bush Administration Press Briefings at the National Archives and Records Administration's archive of the official White House website
• Clinton administration archives at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center

v t e White House Press Secretaries Akerson Joslin Early Daniels Ross Early Short Tubby Hagerty Salinger Reedy Moyers Christian Ziegler terHorst Nessen Powell Brady Speakes Fitzwater Myers McCurry Lockhart Siewert Fleischer McClellan Snow Perino Gibbs Carney

v t e White House Office Office of Cabinet Affairs · Office of the Chief of Staff · Office of Communications · Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy · Office of the First Lady · Office of Legislative Affairs · Office of Management and Administration · Oval Office Operations · Office of Political Affairs · Office of Presidential Personnel · Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs · Office of the Press Secretary · Office of Scheduling and Advance · Office of the Senior Advisor · Office of the Staff Secretary · Office of the White House Counsel · Office of Policy Development · White House Fellows

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.

They often, but not always, act as the organization's senior spokesperson. Many governments also have press secretaries. A deputy press secretary is typically a mid-level political staffer who assists the press secretary and communications director with aspects of public outreach. They often write the press releases and media advisories for review by the press secretary and communications director. There are usually assistant press secretaries and press officers that support the press secretary.

See also[link]

• Spokesperson
• Press service
• Office of the Press Secretary (Philippines)
• White House Press Secretary
• Press Office (Royal Household)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary
• Spin Doctor

This job-, occupation-, or vocation-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

The White House
The South Portico of the White House
Location in Washington, D.C.
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 U.S.
Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N 77°2′11.58″W / 38.8976694°N 77.03655°W / 38.8976694; -77.03655
Current tenants	Barack Obama, President of the United States
Construction started	October 13, 1792; 219 years ago  (1792-10-13)
Design and construction
Architect	James Hoban

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban,^[1] and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.^[2]

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed house in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls. Once this work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt.

Today, the White House Complex includes the Executive Residence, West Wing, Cabinet Room, Roosevelt Room, East Wing, and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses the executive offices of the President and Vice President.

The White House is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, and Third Floor, as well as a two-story basement. The term White House is regularly used as a metonym for the Executive Office of the President of the United States and for the president's administration and advisers in general. The property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the President's Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of "America's Favorite Architecture".

History[link]

1789–1800[link]

President's House, Philadelphia. Occupied by Washington, 1790–97, and Adams, 1797–1800.

Following his April 1789 inauguration, President George Washington occupied two executive mansions in New York City: the Samuel Osgood House at 3 Cherry Street (April 1789 – February 1790), and the Alexander Macomb House at 39–41 Broadway (February – August 1790).

The July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the temporary national capital for a 10-year period while the Federal City was under construction. The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morris's city house at 190 High Street (now 524-30 Market Street) for Washington's presidential residence. The first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797, and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House. As part of a futile effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital, Pennsylvania built a presidential palace several blocks away, but Washington declined to move there.

President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800. In November 1800, he became the first president to occupy the White House. The President's House in Philadelphia became a hotel, and the unused presidential palace became home to the University of Pennsylvania.

Architectural competition[link]

Hoban's Charleston County Courthouse, Charleston, South Carolina, 1790-92, was admired by Washington.

The North Portico of the White House compared to Leinster House

The President's House was a major feature of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's's plan for the newly established federal city, Washington, D.C.^[3][4] The architect of the White House was chosen in a design competition, which received nine proposals, including one submitted anonymously by Thomas Jefferson.^[5]

President Washington visited Charleston, South Carolina in May 1791 on his "Southern Tour," and saw the under-construction Charleston County Courthouse designed by Irish architect James Hoban. He is reputed to have met with Hoban then, and summoned the architect to Philadelphia and met with him there in June 1792.^[6]

On July 16, 1792, the President met with the commissioners of the federal city to make his judgment in the architectural competition. His review is recorded as being brief, and he quickly selected Hoban's submission.^[7]

Washington was not entirely pleased with the original submission, however; he found it too small, lacking ornament, and not monumental enough to house the nation's president. On his recommendation, the house was changed from three stories to two, and was widened from a 9-bay facade to an 11-bay facade. Hoban's competition drawings do not survive.

Design influences[link]

The building Hoban designed is verifiably influenced by the upper floors of Leinster House, in Dublin, Ireland, which later became the seat of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament).^[8] Several other Georgian era Irish country houses have been suggested as sources of inspiration for the overall floor plan, details like the bow-fronted south front, and interior details like the former niches in the present Blue Room. These influences, though undocumented, are cited in the official White House guide, and in White House Historical Association publications. The first official White House guide, published in 1962, suggested a link between Hoban's design for the South Portico, and Château de Rastignac, a neoclassical country house located in La Bachellerie in the Dordogne region of France and designed by Mathurin Salat. Construction on the French house was initially started before 1789, interrupted by the French Revolution for twenty years and then finally built 1812–1817 (based on Salat's pre-1789 design).^[9] The theoretical link between the two houses has been criticized because Hoban did not visit France. Supporters of a connection posit that Thomas Jefferson, during his tour of Bordeaux in 1789, viewed Salat's architectural drawings (which were on-file at the College) at the École Spéciale d'Architecture (Bordeaux Architectural College).^[10] On his return to the U.S. he then shared the influence with Washington, Hoban, Monroe, and Benjamin Henry Latrobe.^[9]

Construction[link]

Construction of the White House began with the laying of the cornerstone on October 13, 1792, although there was no formal ceremony.^[11] The main residence, as well as foundations of the house, were built largely by enslaved and free African-American laborers, as well as employed Europeans.^[12] Much of the other work on the house was performed by immigrants, many not yet with citizenship. The sandstone walls were erected by Scottish immigrants, employed by Hoban,^[13] as were the high relief rose and garland decorations above the north entrance and the "fish scale" pattern beneath the pediments of the window hoods. The initial construction took place over a period of eight years, at a reported cost of $232,371.83 (equal to $3,182,127 today). Although not yet completed, the White House was ready for occupancy on or circa November 1, 1800.^[14]

Shortages, including material and labor, forced alterations to the earlier plan developed by French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant for a "palace" that was five times larger than the house that was eventually built.^[13] The finished structure contained only two main floors instead of the planned three, and a less costly brick served as a lining for the stone façades. When construction was finished the porous sandstone walls were coated with a mixture of lime, rice glue, casein, and lead, giving the house its familiar color and name.^[13]

As it is a famed structure in America, many replicas of the White House have been constructed.

Architectural appraisal[link]

The principal facade of the White House, the north front, is of three floors and eleven bays. The ground floor is hidden by a raised carriage ramp and parapet, thus the facade appears to be of two floors. The central three bays are behind a prostyle portico (this was a later addition to the house, built circa 1830) serving, thanks to the carriage ramp, as a porte cochere. The windows of the four bays flanking the portico, at first-floor level, have alternating pointed and segmented pediments, while at second-floor level the pediments are flat. The principal entrance at the centre of the portico is surmounted by lunette fanlight. Above the entrance is a sculpted swag in relief. The roofline is hidden by a balustraded parapet.

The mansion's southern facade is a combination of the Palladian and neoclassical styles of architecture. It is of three floors, all visible. The ground floor is rusticated in the Palladian fashion. At the centre of the facade is a neoclassical projecting bow of three bays. The bow is flanked by 5 bays, the windows of which, as on the north facade, have alternating segmented and pointed pediments at first-floor level. The bow has a ground floor double staircase leading to a Doric colonnaded loggia (with the Truman Balcony at second-floor level), known as the south portico. The more modern third floor is hidden by a balustraded parapet and plays no part in the composition of the facade.

Naming conventions[link]

The building was originally referred to variously as the "President's Palace", "Presidential Mansion", or "President's House".^[15] The earliest evidence of the public calling it the "White House" was recorded in 1811.^[16] A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington, white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered,^[17] giving the building its namesake hue.^[18] The name "Executive Mansion" was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having "White House–Washington" engraved on the stationery in 1901.^[19][20] The current letterhead wording and arrangement "The White House" with the word "Washington" centered beneath goes back to the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.^[20]

Although it was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, it is also speculated that the name of the traditional residence of the President of the United States may have derived from Martha Custis Washington's home, White House Plantation in Virginia, where the nation's first President had courted the First Lady in the mid-18th century.^[21]

Evolution of the White House[link]

Early use, the 1814 fire, and rebuilding[link]

The White House as it looked following the conflagration of August 24, 1814

Jefferson and Latrobe's West Wing Colonnade in this nineteenth-century engraved view, is now the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.

Principal story plan for the white house by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1807.

Earliest known photograph of the White House, taken c. 1846 by John Plumbe during the administration of James K. Polk.

On Saturday, November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building.^[13] During Adams' second day in the house, he wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, containing a prayer for the house. Adams wrote:

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.^[22]

Theodore Roosevelt had Adams's blessing carved into the mantel in the State Dining Room.^[22]

Adams lived in the house only briefly before Thomas Jefferson moved into the "pleasant country residence"^[23] in 1801. Despite his complaints that the house was too big ("big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain"^[24]), Jefferson considered how the White House might be added to. With Benjamin Henry Latrobe, he helped lay out the design for the East and West Colonnades, small wings that help conceal the domestic operations of laundry, a stable and storage.^[13] Today, Jefferson's colonnades link the residence with the East and West Wings.^[13]

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the White House was set ablaze by British troops^[25] during the Burning of Washington, in retaliation for burning Upper Canada's Parliament Buildings in the Battle of York; much of Washington was affected by these fires as well. Only the exterior walls remained, and they had to be torn down and mostly reconstructed because of weakening from the fire and subsequent exposure to the elements, except for portions of the south wall. Of the numerous objects taken from the White House when it was ransacked by British troops, only two have been recovered. First lady Dolley Madison rescued a painting of George Washington,^[25] and in 1939, a Canadian man returned a jewelry box to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, claiming that his grandfather had taken it from Washington. Some observers allege that most of these spoils were lost when a convoy of British ships led by HMS Fantome sank en route to Halifax off Prospect during a storm on the night of November 24, 1814,^[26][27] even though Fantome had no inolvement in that action.^[28]

After the fire, President James Madison resided in The Octagon House. Meanwhile, both architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Hoban contributed to the design and oversight of the reconstruction, which lasted from 1815 until 1817. The south portico was constructed in 1824 during the James Monroe administration; the north portico was built six years later.^[13] Though Latrobe proposed similar porticos before the fire in 1814, both porticos were built as designed by Hoban.^[29] An elliptical portico at Château de Rastignac in La Bachellerie, France with nearly identical curved stairs is speculated as the source of inspiration due to its similarity with the South Portico,^[30] although this matter is one of great debate.^[31] Italian artisans, brought to Washington to help in constructing the U.S. Capitol, carved the decorative stonework on both porticos. Contrary to speculation, the North Portico was not modeled on a similar portico on another Dublin building, the Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin, residence of the President of Ireland), for its portico postdates the White House porticos' design.^[30] For the North Portico, a variation on the Ionic Order was devised incorporating a swag of roses between the volutes. This was done to link the new portico with the earlier carved roses above the entrance.

Overcrowding and building the West Wing[link]

Entrance Hall in 1882, showing the new Tiffany glass screen.

By the time of the American Civil War, the White House had become overcrowded. The location of the White House was questioned, just north of a canal and swampy lands, which provided conditions ripe for malaria and other unhealthy conditions.^[32] Brigadier General Nathaniel Michler was tasked to propose solutions to address these concerns. He proposed abandoning the use of the White House as a residence and designed a new estate for the first family at Meridian Hill in Washington, D.C., but Congress rejected the plan.^[32]

The White House North Lawn in the 1860s, during the Abraham Lincoln administration

The Panic of 1873 had led to an economic depression that persisted through much of the decade. The Statue of Liberty project was not the only undertaking that had difficulty raising money: construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years.^[33]

When Chester Arthur took office in 1881, he ordered renovations to the White House to take place as soon as the recently widowed Lucretia Garfield moved out. Arthur inspected the work almost nightly and made several suggestions. Louis Comfort Tiffany was asked to send selected designers to assist. Over twenty wagons of furniture and household items were removed from the building and sold at a public auction.^[34] All that was saved were bust portraits of John Adams and Martin Van Buren.^[35] A proposal was made to build a new residence south of the White House, but it failed to gain support. In the fall of 1882 work was done on the main corridor, including tinting the walls pale olive and adding squares of gold leaf, and decorating the ceiling in gold and silver, and colorful traceries woven to spell "USA". The Red Room was painted a dull Pomeranian red, and its ceiling was decorated with gold, silver, and copper stars and stripes of red, white, and blue. A fifty-foot jeweled Tiffany glass screen, supported by imitation marble columns, replaced the glass doors that separated the main corridor from the north vestibule.^[36]

In 1891, First Lady Caroline Harrison proposed major extensions to the White House, including a National Wing on the east for an historical art gallery, and a wing on the west for official functions.^[32] A plan was devised by Colonel Theodore A. Bingham, which reflected the Harrison proposal.^[32] These plans were ultimately rejected however in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt and his family moved in to the White House and hired McKim, Mead, and White to carry out renovations and expansion, including the addition of a West Wing.^[13] (McKim designed and managed the project.) President William Howard Taft enlisted the help of architect Nathan C. Wyeth to add additional space to the West Wing, which included the addition of the Oval Office.^[32]

The West Wing was damaged by fire in 1929, but rebuilt during the remaining years of the Herbert Hoover presidency. In the 1930s, a second story was added, as well as a larger basement for White House staff, and President Franklin Roosevelt had the Oval Office moved to its present location: adjacent to the Rose Garden.^[13]

The Truman reconstruction[link]

Truman reconstruction, 1949–1952, a steel structure is built within the exterior shell.

Decades of poor maintenance, the construction of a fourth story attic during the Coolidge administration, and the addition of a second-floor balcony over the south portico for Harry Truman^[37] took a great toll on the brick and sandstone structure built around a timber frame.^[13] By 1948, the house was declared to be in imminent danger of collapse, forcing President Truman to commission a reconstruction and move across the street to Blair House from 1949 to 1951.^[38] The work, done by the firm of Philadelphia contractor John McShain, required the complete dismantling of the interior spaces, construction of a new load-bearing internal steel frame and the reconstruction of the original rooms within the new structure.^[37] The total cost of the renovations was about $5.7 million.^[39] Some modifications to the floor plan were made, the largest being the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall, rather than the Cross Hall.^[37] Central air conditioning was added, as well as two additional sub-basements providing space for workrooms, storage, and a bomb shelter.^[13] The Trumans moved back into the White House on March 27, 1952.^[13] While the house's structure was kept intact by the Truman reconstruction, much of the new interior finishes were generic, and of little historic value. Much of the original plasterwork, some dating back to the 1814–1816 rebuilding, was too damaged to reinstall, as was the original robust Beaux Arts paneling in the East Room. President Truman had the original timber frame sawed into paneling; the walls of the Vermeil Room, Library, China Room, and Map Room on the ground floor of the main residence were paneled in wood from the timbers.^[40]

The Kennedy restoration[link]

The Red Room as designed by Stéphane Boudin during the administration of John F. Kennedy.

Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), directed a very extensive and historic redecoration of the house. She enlisted the help of Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum to assist in collecting artifacts for the mansion, many of which had once been housed there.^[41] Other antiques, fine paintings, and improvements of the Kennedy period were donated to the White House by wealthy philanthropists, including the Crowninshield family, Jane Engelhard, Jayne Wrightsman, and the Oppenheimer family. Stéphane Boudin of the House of Jansen, a Paris interior-design firm that had been recognized worldwide, was employed by Mrs. Kennedy to assist with the decoration.^[41] Different periods of the early republic and world history were selected as a theme for each room: the Federal style for the Green Room, French Empire for the Blue Room, American Empire for the Red Room, Louis XVI for the Yellow Oval Room, and Victorian for the president's study, renamed the Treaty Room. Antique furniture was acquired, and decorative fabric and trim based on period documents was produced and installed. The Kennedy restoration resulted in a more authentic White House of grander stature, which recalled the French taste of Madison and Monroe.^[41] In the Diplomatic Reception Room Jacqueline Kennedy installed an antique “Vue de l'Amérique Nord” wall paper which Zuber et cie designed in 1834. The wallpaper hung before on the walls of a mansion until 1961 when the house was demolished for a grocery store. Just before the demolition, the wallpaper was salvaged and sold to the White House.

The first White House guidebook was produced under the direction of curator Lorraine Waxman Pearce with direct supervision from Jacqueline Kennedy.^[42] Sale of the guidebook helped finance the restoration.

The White House today[link]

As a means of preserving the history of the White House, no substantive architectural changes have been made on the house since the Truman renovation.^[43] Since the Kennedy restoration, every presidential family has made some changes to their private quarters of the White House, but the Committee for the Preservation of the White House must approve any modifications to the State Rooms. Aimed at maintaining the historical integrity of the White House, the congressionally authorized committee works with the First Family—usually represented by the First Lady, the White House Curator, and Chief Usher—to implement the family's proposed plans for altering the house.^[44]

The Cross Hall, connecting the State Dining Room and the East Room on the State Floor.

Marine One prepares for landing on the South Lawn where State Arrival Ceremonies for visiting heads of state take place

During the Nixon administration (1969–74), First Lady Pat Nixon refurbished the Green Room, Blue Room, and Red Room, working with Clement Conger, the curator appointed by President Richard Nixon.^[45] Mrs. Nixon's efforts brought more than 600 artifacts to the house, the largest acquisition by any administration.^[46] Her husband created the modern press briefing room over Franklin Roosevelt's old swimming pool.^[47] Nixon added a single-lane bowling alley to the White House basement.^[48]

Computers and the first laser printer were added during the Carter administration, and the use of computer technology was expanded upon during the Reagan administration.^[49] A Carter-era innovation, a set of solar water heating panels that were mounted on the roof of the White House, was removed during Reagan's presidency.^[50][51] Redecorations were made to the private family quarters and maintenance was made to public areas during the Reagan years.^[52] The house was accredited as a museum in 1988.^[52]

In the 1990s, Bill and Hillary Clinton refurbished some rooms with the assistance of Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith, including the Oval Office, the East Room, Blue Room, State Dining Room, Lincoln Bedroom, and Lincoln Sitting Room.^[53] During the administration of George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush refurbished the Lincoln Bedroom in a style contemporary to the Lincoln era; the Green Room, Cabinet Room, and theater were also refurbished.^[53]

The White House is one of the first government buildings in Washington that was made wheelchair-accessible, with modifications having been made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who needed to use a wheelchair because of his paraplegia. In the 1990s, Hillary Rodham Clinton—at the suggestion of Visitors Office Director Melinda N. Bates—approved the addition of a ramp in the East Wing corridor. It allowed easy wheelchair access for the public tours and special events that enter through the secure entrance building on the east side. The president travels from the White House grounds via motorcade or helicopter. President Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to travel by helicopter to and from the White House grounds.^[54]

Layout and amenities[link]

Today the group of buildings housing the presidency is known as the White House Complex. It includes the central Executive Residence flanked by the East Wing and West Wing. The Chief Usher coordinates day to day household operations. The White House includes: six stories and 55,000 ft² (5,100 m²) of floor space, 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, twenty-eight fireplaces, eight staircases, three elevators, five full-time chefs, a tennis court, a (single-lane) bowling alley, a movie theater, a jogging track, a swimming pool, and a putting green.^[20] It receives about 5,000 visitors a day.

White House Complex

West Wing

Ground floor

State floor

Second floor (residence)

Executive Residence[link]

The Yellow Oval Room in the private, second-floor family residence centered directly above the Blue Room.

The original residence is in the center. Two colonnades—one on the east and one on the west—designed by Jefferson, now serve to connect the East and West Wings, added later. The Executive Residence houses the president's dwelling, as well as rooms for ceremonies and official entertaining. The State Floor of the residence building includes the East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, State Dining Room, Family Dining Room, Cross Hall, Entrance Hall, and Grand Staircase.^[55] The Ground Floor is made up of the Diplomatic Reception Room, Map Room, China Room, Vermeil Room, Library, the main kitchen, and other offices.^[56] The second floor family residence includes the Yellow Oval Room, East and West Sitting Halls, the White House Master Bedroom, President's Dining Room, the Treaty Room, Lincoln Bedroom and Queens' Bedroom, as well as two additional bedrooms, a smaller kitchen, and a private dressing room.^[57] The third floor consists of the White House Solarium, Game Room, Linen Room, a Diet Kitchen, and another sitting room (previously used as President George W. Bush's workout room).^[58]

West Wing[link]

The West Wing houses the President's office (the Oval Office) and offices of his senior staff, with room for about 50 employees. It also includes the Cabinet Room, where the president conducts business meetings and where the United States Cabinet meets,^[59] as well as the White House Situation Room, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, and Roosevelt Room.^[60] In 2007, work was completed on renovations of the press briefing room, adding fiber optic cables and LCD screens for the display of charts and graphs.^[61] The makeover took 11 months and cost $8 million, of which news outlets paid $2 million.^[61] Some members of the President's staff are located in the adjacent Old Executive Office Building, formerly the State War and Navy building, and sometimes known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.^[61]

This portion of the building was used as the setting for the popular television show The West Wing.

East Wing[link]

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. The bunker has come to be known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

Grounds[link]

The White House and surrounding grounds

Overhead view of the White House grounds

The White House and grounds cover just over 18 acres (about 7.3 hectares). Before the construction of the North Portico, most public events were entered from the South Lawn, which was graded and planted by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson also drafted a planting plan for the North Lawn that included large trees that would have mostly obscured the house from Pennsylvania Avenue. During the mid-to-late 19th century a series of ever larger green houses were built on the west side of the house, where the current West Wing is located. During this period, the North Lawn was planted with ornate carpet-style flowerbeds. Although the White House grounds have had many gardeners through their history, the general design, still largely used as master plan today, was designed in 1935 by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, under commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the Kennedy administration, the White House Rose Garden was redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon. The Rose garden borders the West Colonnade. Bordering the East Colonnade is the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which was begun by Jacqueline Kennedy but completed after her husband's assassination. On the weekend of June 23, 2006, a century-old American Elm (Ulmus americana L.) tree on the north side of the building, came down during one of the many storms amid intense flooding. Among the oldest trees on the grounds are several magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) planted by Andrew Jackson. Michelle Obama planted the White Houses' first organic garden and installed beehives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings.^[62]

Public access and security[link]

Like the English and Irish country houses it was modeled on, the White House was, from the start, open to the public until the early part of the 20th century. President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his second inaugural in 1805, and many of the people at his swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room. Those open houses sometimes became rowdy: in 1829, President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey. Even so, 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. Jefferson also permitted public tours of his house, which have continued ever since, except during wartime, and began the tradition of annual receptions on New Year's Day and on the Fourth of July. Those receptions ended in the early 1930s, although President Bill Clinton would briefly revive the New Year's Day open house in his first term.

The White House remained accessible in other ways; President Abraham Lincoln complained that he was constantly beleaguered by job seekers waiting to ask him for political appointments or other favors, or eccentric dispensers of advice like “General” Daniel Pratt, as he began the business day. Lincoln put up with the annoyance rather than risk alienating some associate or friend of a powerful politician or opinion maker. In recent years, however, the White House has been closed to visitors because of terrorism concerns.

White House at night

In 1974, a stolen Army helicopter landed without authorization on the White House grounds. Twenty years later, in 1994, a light plane crashed on the White House grounds, and the pilot died instantly.^[63] As a result of increased security regarding air traffic in the capital, the White House was evacuated in 2005 before an unauthorized aircraft could approach the grounds.^[64]

On May 20, 1995, primarily as a response to the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995, the United States Secret Service closed off Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicular traffic in front of the White House from the eastern edge of Lafayette Park to 17th Street. Later, the closure was extended an additional block to the east to 15th Street, and East Executive Avenue, a small street between the White House and the Treasury Building.^[65] The Pennsylvania Avenue closing, in particular, has been opposed by organized civic groups in Washington, D.C. They argue that the closing impedes traffic flow unnecessarily and is inconsistent with the well-conceived historic plan for the city. As for security considerations, they note that the White House is set much further back from the street than numerous other sensitive federal buildings are.^[66]

White House on Reverse of US $20 bill.

Prior to its inclusion within the fenced compound that now includes the Old Executive Office Building to the west and the Treasury Building to the east, this sidewalk served as a queuing area for the daily public tours of the White House. These tours were suspended in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In September 2003, they resumed on a limited basis for groups making prior arrangements through their Congressional representatives or embassies in Washington for foreign nationals and submitting to background checks, but the White House remains closed to the public.^[67] The White House Complex is protected by the United States Secret Service and the United States Park Police.

NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) were used to guard air space over Washington, D.C. during the 2005 presidential inauguration. The same NASAMS units has since been used to protect the president and all air space around the White House, which is strictly prohibited to aircraft.^[68][69]

See also[link]

	Government of the United States portal
	District of Columbia portal

References[link]