When Harry Truman and his family moved into the White House after the death of Franklin Roosevelt in the Spring of 1945, the 33rd president found a building in serious need of repair. The New York Times described the conditions:
The ceiling of the East Room, elaborately done in the frescoes of fruits and reclining women and weighing seventy pounds to the square foot, was found to be sagging six inches on Oct. 26, and now is being held in place by scaffolding and supports.
One report, commissioned by Congress, discovered falling brick and a disintegrating staircase, not to mention a very feeble substructure. Truman, writing to his wife who had travelled back to Missouri, complained, “The … place is haunted, sure as shootin. … You and Margie had better come back and protect me before some of these ghosts carry me off.” The austerity of the World War II era had made White House renovations politically impossible for FDR, and now it was on his successor to repair this historical home.
Between 1948-1952, The White House underwent the most significant renovation in its history, surpassing even the reconstruction after the British burned it in 1812. Today, with a few exceptions, the White House we see is the one remodeled three quarters of a century ago, including the famed Truman balcony.
Since George Washington selected the site for the White House in 1791, a residence inhabited first by his successor John Adams (with sparse accommodations and unfinished construction), every president has personalized the place with his own modifications, some big and some small.
Today, of course, President Trump is building a 90,000 square foot ballroom, near, but not attached to the current East Wing. And it has his critics, unsurprising, loudly protesting. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who fancies himself as the next resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, posted on X that Trump is “literally destroying the White House.” Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Trump kept from inhabiting the place in her own right, posted, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.” The left-wing editor of East Wing Magazine even accused Trump of destroying women’s rights because Eleanor Roosevelt once officed in the East Wing.
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at World Magazine)
Daniel is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including The Dignity Revolution, Agents of Grace, and his forthcoming book, In Defense of Christian Patriotism. Dan is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Angela, have four children.
