The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room is a small theater in the West Wing of the White House where the White House press secretary gives briefings to the news media and the president of the United States sometimes addresses the press and the nation. It is located between the workspace assigned to the White House press corps and the office of the press secretary.
The first presidential press conference was held in March 1913 in the Oval Office, during the Woodrow Wilson administration. Then, until 1969, communications from the president and general press news conferences took place in various locations, including the Indian Treaty Room, the State Department auditorium, and East Room of the White House. [1]
In 1969, to accommodate the growing number of reporters assigned to the White House, President Richard Nixon had the indoor swimming pool, which had been installed by the March of Dimes for Franklin D. Roosevelt, covered and turned into press offices and a lounge that could double as a briefing room. [2] [3]
From August to November 1981, the room was refurbished at a cost of $160,566 after the General Services Administration found the terrace roof over the press center was about to collapse; first families had hosted parties there. The White House press corps was moved to temporary quarters in the fourth-floor auditorium of the Old Executive Office Building. Forty-eight theater-style seats, blue and white tweed wall-to-wall carpeting, off-white wall coverings and a larger podium were added. On November 9, 1981, President Ronald Reagan and White House Press Secretary James Brady cut a red white and blue ribbon to open the remodeled facility. It was Brady's first official White House appearance since he had been shot on March 30 during an assassination attempt on Reagan. [4] In 2000, the room was named the "James S. Brady Press Briefing Room" in his honor. [3]
In December 2005, the White House announced the intention to renovate the aging Press Briefing Room and cramped press corps offices. [5] On August 2, 2006, the final briefing was held, and President George W. Bush hosted several previous press secretaries at a closing ceremony and there was some hesitation and concern about whether the press would be allowed to return to the White House. [6] [7] In the interim, the White House Conference Center was used as temporary location for press conferences. [8]
President Bush reopened the renovated room in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the morning of July 11, 2007. He held his first formal press conference in the new briefing room the next day, following the release of a report on the progress of the Iraqi government. [9] The modernization cost nearly US$8.5 million. Of that sum, $2.5 million was funded by the media, and the remainder was funded from tax revenue. Each correspondent's seat was priced at $1,500. Beneath the current press room lies the former White House swimming pool that has since become a computer server room. [10] [11]
James Addison Baker III is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. secretary of state before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.
James Scott Brady was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the 17th White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded Brady during Hinckley’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, which occurred two months and ten days after Reagan's inauguration.
The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
The White House press secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States federal government, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and executives, as well as government policies.
The West Wing of the White House houses the formal office for the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room.
The Situation Room is an intelligence management complex on the ground floor of the West Wing of the White House. While the name suggests it is a single room, it is in fact a 5,000 square feet (460 m2) operations suite consisting of a duty watch station and three secure conference rooms. It is run by about 130 National Security Council staff for the use of the president of the United States, chief of staff, national security advisor, homeland security advisor, and other senior advisors for monitoring and dealing with crises, as well as conducting secure communications with outside persons. The Situation Room has secure, advanced communications equipment for the president to maintain command and control of U.S. forces around the world.
Max Marlin Fitzwater is an American writer-journalist who served as White House Press Secretary for six years under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, making him one of the longest-serving press secretaries in history. He is the only U.S. Press Secretary to be appointed by two different U.S. Presidents.
Larry Melvin Speakes was an American journalist and spokesperson who acted as White House Press Secretary under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1987. He assumed the role after Press Secretary James Brady was shot on March 30, 1981.
On March 30, 1981, then President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
The Red Room is one of three state parlors on the State Floor in the White House, the Washington D.C. home of the president of the United States. The room has served as a parlor and music room, and recent presidents have held small dinner parties in it. It has been traditionally decorated in shades of red. The room is approximately 28 by 22.5 feet. It has six doors, which open into the Cross Hall, Blue Room, South Portico, and State Dining Room.
The Cross Hall is a broad hallway on the first floor in the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. It runs east to west connecting the State Dining Room with the East Room. The room is used for receiving lines following a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn, or a procession of the President and a visiting head of state and their spouses.
Jackson Place is a Washington, D.C. street located across from the White House and forming the western border of Lafayette Square between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, NW, beginning just south of Connecticut Avenue. Facing the street are mostly 19th century town homes which are now generally used for government offices of other official functions.
The White House Conference Center is an annex building of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Colonial Revival building is located across Pennsylvania Avenue at 726 Jackson Place and was used as a temporary press location during remodeling of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room from August 2006 to June 2007.
The presidency of Ronald Reagan began on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1989.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Jimmy Carter, from January 1, 1980, to January 20, 1981.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Ronald Reagan from his inauguration as the 40th president of the United States on January 20, 1981, to December 31, 1981.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, from January 1, 1991 to December 31, 1991.
The tennis court at the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States in Washington, D.C., is located on the South Lawn. Lines have been drawn, and baskets have since been added to the court for use as a basketball court. It has been reopened.
The presidential transition of George H. W. Bush began when then-Vice President Bush won the United States 1988 United States presidential election, becoming the president-elect, and ended when Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 1989.
38°53′52″N77°02′08″W / 38.89771°N 77.03567°W
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