This is a list of weddings that have taken place at the White House, the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States.
Nineteen couples have had documented weddings in the White House. Nine have been children of presidents, three have been a niece or nephew of the president or first lady, two siblings, two staffers, one granddaughter, one friend and one president. Of the twelve children of incumbent presidents who married during their father's presidency in locations other than the White House, two had receptions in the executive mansion. [1]
Public weddings in the White House, particularly those of the president's children, "have been feel-good occasions for the country and the commander in chief, casting presidents in the sympathetic role of father." [2] President-elect Richard Nixon encouraged his daughter, Julie, and her fiancé, David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight D. Eisenhower, to postpone their December 1968 wedding at New York's Marble Collegiate Church and instead have it after his inauguration at the White House, but the couple did not wish for the publicity of a White House wedding. [3] Her older sister, Tricia, is the most recent White House bride to be a child of the president.
These events are occasionally referred to in the press as "America's 'royal' weddings." [4] The President is invoiced for the private event at personal expense, including flowers, event-specific staffing, and overtime, but White House staff may be directed to work on the wedding, such as their chefs, butlers, or calligraphy staff. The White House social secretary takes on wedding planning duties. Apart from weddings, the White House hosts hundreds of events annually. [5]
The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a cabinet position in the federal government of the United States.
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.
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was an American writer and socialite. She was the eldest child of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and his only child with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Longworth led an unconventional and controversial life. Her marriage to Representative Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican Party leader and the 38th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was shaky, and her only child, Paulina, was from her affair with Senator William Borah.
In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.
The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence, which is a building of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for dances, receptions, press conferences, ceremonies, concerts, and banquets. The East Room was one of the last rooms to be finished and decorated, and it has undergone substantial redecoration over the past two centuries. Since 1964, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House has, by executive order, advised the president of the United States and first lady on the decor, preservation, and conservation of the East Room and other public rooms at the White House.
The United States Secret Service uses code names for U.S. presidents, first ladies, and other prominent persons and locations. The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition. The Secret Service does not choose these names, however. The White House Communications Agency maintains a list that candidates choose from, often choosing ones that resonate with them personally.
The President's Dining Room is a dining room located in the northwest corner of the second floor of the White House. It is located directly above the Family Dining Room on the State Floor and looks out upon the North Lawn. The Dining Room is adjacent to the Family Kitchen, a small kitchen designed for use by the First Family, and served by a dumbwaiter connected to the main kitchen on the ground floor.
The Executive Residence is the central building of the White House complex located between the East Wing and West Wing. It is the most recognizable part of the complex, being the actual "house" part of the White House. This central building, first constructed from 1792 to 1800, is home to the president of the United States and the first family. The Executive Residence primarily occupies four floors: the ground floor, the state floor, the second floor, and the third floor. A sub-basement with a mezzanine, created during the 1948–1952 Truman reconstruction, is used for HVAC and mechanical systems, storage, and service areas.
The International Debutante Ball is an invitation-only, formal debutante ball, to officially present well-connected young women from upper-class families to high society. Founded in 1954, it occurs every two years at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
United States presidential inaugural balls are large social gatherings, both white tie and black tie, held to celebrate the commencement of a new term of the president of the United States. Planned and sanctioned by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the official inaugural balls occur throughout the evening of Inauguration Day in the Washington D.C. area and are invitation-only, attended by guests who are issued pre-paid tickets. The president, first lady, vice president, and second lady or gentleman all make personal appearances at each of the inaugural balls held in their honor. Catered food, beverages, and live entertainment performed by national and globally acclaimed musicians are provided at the inaugural balls.
The desk in the Vice President's Room of the United States Capitol, colloquially known as the Wilson desk and previously called the McKinley-Barkley desk, is a large mahogany partner's desk used by U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the Oval Office as their Oval Office desk. One of only six desks used by a President in the Oval Office, it was purchased in 1898 by Garret Augustus Hobart, the 24th Vice President of the United States, for the Vice President's Room in the United States Capitol.
The desk in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, colloquially known as the Theodore Roosevelt desk, is a large mahogany pedestal desk in the collection of the White House. It is the first of six desks that have been used by U.S. presidents in the Oval Office, and since 1961 has been used as the desk of the U.S. Vice President.
The following is a list of works about the spouses of presidents of the United States. While this list is mainly about presidential spouses, administrations with a bachelor or widowed president have a section on the individual that filled the role of First Lady. The list includes books and journal articles written in English after c. 1900 as well as primary sources written by the individual themselves.