History Happens at the White House from CobblestoneOnline.net

Many monumental historical events have occurred at the White House. Presidents have signed important documents, made official announcements, and celebrated special occasions there. Noteworthy visitors have met with the president, received honors, and, in some cases, staged protests outside the gates of this national structure.

The White House is an important American symbol. As such, it is a perfect setting for the president to sign a bill into law or a treaty with a foreign country. For example, in 1948 in the White House, President Harry S. Truman signed the executive order that integrated the armed forces. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in the East Room. The East Room also was used in 1987 by U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev when they signed the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty (the first arms control agreement in history that reduced the number of nuclear weapons held by both countries).

Presidents also have made significant announcements from the Executive Mansion. For example, the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the rebellious states, was announced by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in the fall of 1862. He signed the proclamation in his office on the first day of 1863. More than eight decades later, President Truman announced Japan's surrender and the end of World War II from the Oval Office of the White House. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to send federal army troops to Little Rock, Arkansas. The troops were to protect African American children attending a school that had just been integrated. Eisenhower had been on vacation, but he shortened his trip in order to return to Washington, D.C., and make the announcement from the White House. �Speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson and of Wilson, my words better convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled today to take and the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course...," he said from the Executive Mansion.

The White House, its grounds, and Washington, D.C., have been the stage for thousands of ceremonies and visits by foreign heads of state. For example, the South Portico was the site of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth inauguration in 1945. The Rose Garden was the backdrop for the wedding of President Richard M. Nixon's daughter, Tricia, in 1971.

Some visits attract a great deal of public attention, such as when the king and queen of England came to Washington, D.C., in 1939 and stayed one night at the White House. It was the first trip to the United States by a British monarch. When they arrived in Washington, D.C., the king and queen were met by President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a military parade escorted them to the Executive Mansion: 500,000 people greeted them from the city streets.

Unique events and exhibits frequently occur at the White House. On July 20, 1969, for example, President Nixon spoke from the Oval Office to astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, who had landed on the moon. Earlier, the White House was the showplace for treasures from explorations. In the early 1800s, President Thomas Jefferson displayed antlers, stuffed animals, Indian costumes, snakeskins, and other items sent to him by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they explored the lands west of the Mississippi River.

Occasionally, tragic events have occurred at the White House. Perhaps the most serious was when British troops set fire to the mansion during the War of 1812. On the evening of August 24, 1814, just a few hours before the British arrived, Dolley, wife of President James Madison, fled the house. Fortunately, she sent off for safekeeping a portrait of George Washington - today, it hangs in the East Room of the White House.

Situated at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House has seen many Americans protest the decisions or actions of the president and the U.S. government. For example, women stood outside the White House in 1918 carrying banners demanding support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would grant women the right to vote. Five decades later, thousands of other protesters, objecting to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, marched in front of the White House.

In the past two hundred years, the White House has been the setting for many important historic events. No doubt history will continue to unfold at this famous address.

The Oval Office

Today, we think of the Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House as the place where the president carries out the duties of his position. But until 1909, the president worked from his private quarters on the second floor of the White House.

When President Theodore Roosevelt moved into the Executive Mansion in 1901, his large family came with him. Using the upstairs as both the first family's residence and the working offices of the president and his large staff was not going to be feasible. Roosevelt requested additional office space, and in 1902, a temporary office building connected to the White House was completed. Roosevelt's staff moved into it, while the president continued to work in an office on the second floor of the White House.

In 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded this temporary space and added the original Oval Office in the south center end of the now permanent West Wing. Twenty-five years later, the Oval Office as we know it today was relocated to the southeast corner of the West Wing. The president uses this office to work, hold meetings, and greet dignitaries. Sometimes the Rose Garden and the South Lawn - located outside the Oval Office - also become the sites for important presidential announcements.

History Happens at the White House

by Lee Ann Potter

The Oval Office