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From the Ground Floor Corridor rooms, transformed from their early use as service areas, to the State Floor rooms, where countless leaders and dignitaries have been entertained, the White House is both the home of the President of the United States and his or her family, and a living museum of American history. “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. Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), directed a very extensive and historic redecoration of the house.
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My predecessor promised infrastructure week every week for four years, but never built a damn thing. My bipartisan infrastructure law has now launched over 51,000 projects across every state and territory in America. Today, we answered history’s call at this critical inflection point.With the signing of our national security package, we tell the world that America stands resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression. According to whitehouse.gov, members of the American public can tour the White House by scheduling a visit through their member of Congress. Contrary to a popular myth that the building was painted white to hide scorch marks after the fire in 1814, the residence was first painted white in 1798 to protect the exterior from weather damage. The residence features a 42-seat movie theater and a tennis and basketball court.
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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). The Madisons eventually moved into the nearby Octagon House, the Washington mansion of John Tayloe, a Virginia plantation owner. Reconstruction and expansion began under Hoban’s direction, but the building was not ready for occupancy until 1817, during the administration of Pres. Hoban’s reconstruction included the addition of east and west terraces on the main building’s flanks; a semicircular south portico and a colonnaded north portico were added in the 1820s.

A Proclamation on National Park Week, 2024
Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement. With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year’s event. But speakers inside made only passing mention of the conflict despite some having to run a gauntlet of demonstrators. Biden’s speech, which lasted around 10 minutes, made no mention of the ongoing war or the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Use of public transportation is strongly encouraged, as there is no parking available on the White House complex and street parking is limited. The closest Metrorail stations to the White House are Federal Triangle (blue and orange lines), Metro Center (blue, orange, silver, and red lines), and McPherson Square (blue, orange, and silver lines).
The Administration
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. 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.
Live / Watch 2024 White House Correspondents’ dinner
Dickens later wrote, “I take it for granted the Presidential housemaids have high wages.” Until the Civil War, however, most White House servants were enslaved people. Moreover, the wages of all White House employees—as well as the expenses for running the White House, including staging official functions—were paid for by the president. Not until 1909 did Congress provide appropriations to pay White House servants. The White House became one of the first wheelchair-accessible government buildings in Washington, D.C. When modifications were made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair because of his paralytic illness. In the 1990s, Hillary Clinton, at the suggestion of the Visitors Office director, approved the addition of a ramp in the East Wing corridor, affording easier wheelchair access for the public tours and special events that enter through the secure entrance building on the east side.
Truman reconstruction
Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semicircular South Portico in 1824 and the North Portico in 1829. President George Washington, who lived in presidential residences in New York and Philadelphia, selected the site of the nation’s capital on the Potomac River for an executive mansion with the help of French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who designed the plan of the city. L’Enfant initially proposed an opulent design for the residence, which would have resulted in a building four times the size of what stands today.
Set on 18 acres of land, the White House is made up of the Executive Residence, the East Wing, and the West Wing, with its famous Oval Office. Today, the residence includes six levels with 132 rooms, including 16 family and guest rooms and 35 bathrooms, and is spread over 55,000 square feet. The White House has been home to every president from John Adams to Joe Biden, and it is an enduring symbol of democracy and one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, attracting 500,000 visitors annually. Every president since John Adams has occupied the White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of its walls.
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Biden began his roast with a direct focus on Trump, calling him “sleepy Don,” in reference to a nickname Trump had given the president previously. He went on to note that despite being similar in age, the two presidential hopefuls have little else in common. Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point. Biden, like most of his predecessors, used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association banquet to jab at his rival, Donald Trump.
Campaign Updates: Biden jokes about his age and Trump at White House Correspondents' dinner. - The New York Times
Campaign Updates: Biden jokes about his age and Trump at White House Correspondents' dinner..
Posted: Mon, 29 Apr 2024 03:06:00 GMT [source]
The general layout of the White House grounds today is based on the 1935 design by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the Kennedy administration, the White House Rose Garden was redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon. Bordering the East Colonnade is the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which was begun by Jacqueline Kennedy but completed after her husband's assassination. 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".
Ford’s pool was built on the South Lawn, and Roosevelt’s indoor pool was covered and turned into a press briefing room. Architect Lorenzo Winslow oversaw the three-year gut renovation, during which the inside of the White House was demolished and completely rebuilt. “The Truman renovation is the largest reconstruction at the White House because of the sheer amount of demolition and reconstruction that you see inside,” says Fling. One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents’ Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists.
In July of 1792, Irish-born architect James Hoban’s submission was selected by Washington, and he was hired to build the White House. The White House is both the home and workplace of the president of the United States, and it is the headquarters of the president’s principal staff members. According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza.
Before the construction of the North Portico, most public events were entered from the South Lawn, the grading and planting of which was ordered 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 greenhouses 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. 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.
The West Wing also houses the Situation Room, the Cabinet Room, the Press Room, and offices for advisors and the chief of staff. Additional offices for the president’s staff are located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The vice president has an office in the West Wing, as well as the ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In 1842 the visit to the United States of the English novelist Charles Dickens brought an official invitation to the White House. After his calls at the White House door went unanswered, Dickens let himself in and walked through the mansion from room to room on the lower and upper floors. Finally coming upon a room filled with nearly two dozen people, he was shocked and appalled to see many of them spitting on the carpet.
The reconstruction was overseen by architect Lorenzo Winslow, and in 1952, the Truman family moved back into the White House. While George Washington chose the site and design of the White House, he did not ever live in the residence. John Adams was the first president to live in the White House, moving in on November 1st, 1800. The executive mansion has been the official residence of every subsequent president.
The East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the residence's load-bearing walls and 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 was constructed inside the walls. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style.[4] Hoban modeled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Construction took place between 1792 and 1800, with an exterior of Aquia Creek sandstone painted white.