Library Notes
February 2009
Betty Moore
Behind the Scenes at the White House
When I was learning history in school—many decades ago!—the emphasis seemed to be on dates, leaders, and battles. I wondered then, and still do, what goes on behind the scenes?
During the recent political campaign and election, and transfer of presidential leadership, I wondered, as always, what is daily life like for the families of presidents, as well as the presidents? And what would it be like to live in the same building where you worked, especially when that building is the White House? Can the White House be a home?
Rowan Public Library has many resources that help satisfy my interest about life “above the store.”
“Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America’s Most Famous Residence” by John and Claire Whitcomb is a fascinating way to look at American history—from the point of view of the President’s House, where the personal and the political meet. The house itself is an important character in American history.
Through the years we read about the first families’ personalities, close circles of friends and family, food and drink, animals, foreign visitors, community relations, tastes in furniture and clothing. We share in their joyous times as well as their defeats and personal sorrows. We see how each family coped with the curious combination of loss of privacy and isolation. Some presidents and their families were very self-contained, even withdrawn; some were extremely out-going, constantly having visitors.
We see the changing role of the president’s wife, as well as the other women who served as hostesses for the presidents. Dolley Madison set the tone for many in her entertaining and shows up in many chapters besides that of her husband’s tenure.
The book is so interesting to read cover to cover, watching the physical house transform over the years with its occupants and events of the times—through remodeling, changes in taste, fire, vandalism, deterioration, and adoration. One can follow a certain theme—such as security, bathrooms, or extended family who live at the White House. But I found myself also dipping into the book here and there as current events took place and referred to past presidents.
The book is interspersed with brief essays—on pets (including a mockingbird, a snake, alligators, goats, and more), the White House grounds, the White House during the Civil War. For example, “Souvenir Hunters” tells how presidential fans cut off pieces of curtains, snipped their pets’ hair, and swiped napkins, spoons, even china. A few of the Presidents, or their family members, also took home presidential items when they left office.
While all presidents had some connection to the White House, many lived in other places while it was being built, under siege, remodeled or restored. Most early presidents also left the house in the summer, since the White House was notorious for its unhealthy location, with cholera threatening those who remained. “From Mount Vernon to Crawford: A History of the Presidents and Their Retreats” by Kenneth T. Walsh is the first book to look at the getaways Presidents have used for solitude, or for entertaining friends or world leaders away from the White House. He also tells of momentous decisions taking place in private retreats when official business intruded.
“First Ladies” is written by Amy Pastan in association with the Smithsonian Institution. The book is loaded with graphics related to each First Lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. It also contains “First Ladies Firsts” and other “Fascinating Facts.”
“White House Kids” by Susan Edwards is a light look at adventures of kids growing up in the White House, including some who turned the large East Room into a roller skating rink. A deeper look at the stresses and challenges of being a child of the President can be found in Doug Wead’s “All the Presidents’ Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America’s First Families.” According to Wead, “Two things are unforgivable for the child of a president—success and failure.”
People have long been interested in animals of the nation’s first family. “White House Pets,” by Margaret Truman, once a presidential kid herself, is a non-fiction look at many pets. In “Millie’s Book,” Springer Spaniel Millie describes her life with President George H.W. Bush and family, discussing morning briefings, deliberations in the Oval Office, and short breaks for squirrel hunting.
Presidential pets have outnumbered president’s kids by about two to one, comments Carole Nelson Douglas in her introduction to the fictional “White House Pet Detectives: Tales of Crime and Mystery at the White House from a Pet’s-Eye View.” She has collected 14 stories by award-winning authors that take advantage of the special privileges and access to confidential settings that these pets must have.
