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, 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.
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.
Manny Vega (born February 10, 1956) is an American painter, illustrator, printmaker, muralist, mosaicist, and set and costume designer. His work portrays the history and traditions of the African Diaspora that exist in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
Born in the South Bronx, New York, Vega studied at the High School of Art and Design in New York City from 1970-1974. He joined the artist collective Taller Boricua in 1979 where he studied through 1984. While there he was also a pupil of legendary Harlem printmaker Robert Blackburn at his Printmaking Workshop from 1980-1990. At age 12 Vega ran his first marathon in 4 four hours and ten minutes, by age fifteen he ran another marathon with a great time of three hours and twenty two minutes. Being only two minutes away from the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon Manny Vega will not give up and will qualify at whatever price it takes. With help of his cross-country team and SRLA, he is sure he can run faster the next marathon.
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance.
Born and raised in Arkansas, Clinton became both a student leader and a skilled musician. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University where he was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has served as the United States Secretary of State since 2009 and was a Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Both Clintons received law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.
Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an Italian-born American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, television producer, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for hosting The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC comedy series Community.
McHale's role as a voice actor includes Elliot in Open Season 2, filling in for Ashton Kutcher. He also appeared in Spider-Man 2 in a cameo appearance as bank manager Mr. Jacks, CSI: Miami as Greg Welsh, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World as Wilbur Wilson.
McHale, the middle of three brothers, was born in Rome, Italy on November 20, 1971. His mother, Laurie, is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and his father, Jack, is from Chicago. McHale and his brothers were born in Rome, where their father worked for an American university. He grew up in the Seattle area, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1991. He also participated at Youth Theatre Northwest.
He received a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Washington in 1995. While at the University of Washington, McHale briefly belonged to the Theta Chi Fraternity. He was recruited to be on the rowing team, but later walked onto the football team, playing tight end for two years. McHale received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington.
Anthony "Romeo" Santos (born July 21, 1981) is an American singer, featured composer and former lead singer of the Bachata group Aventura. As a member of Aventura, Santos has been a key figure in popularizing Bachata, with hits reaching near the top of the Billboard Latin charts and the top of charts in Europe. In 2002, the band's song "Obsesión" was number one in Italy for sixteen consecutive weeks.
Santos was born in The Bronx, New York, United States to a Argentinian father and a Puerto-Rican mother. At twelve years of age, he became a member of the church choir. While the group performs in both English and Spanish, their work was widely ignored by the English-language media during the early part of their career. On May 9, 2011, Santos released his first single, "You", from his upcoming solo debut album, Formula. The song became a number-one debut on the Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Songs chart. The second single revealed from his album was "Promise" which features a duet with Usher. The single has peaked at number #1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number one on the Tropical Songs chart.