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White House
White House
The Oxford Companion to United States History
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2001
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© The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information)
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White House, the president's official residence in
Washington, D.C.In 1792, Irish architect James Hoban won a competition for the design of a president's house. Hoban's Anglo‐Palladian design was at least partly patterned on Dublin's Lenster House. Construction began in 1792 on a site selected by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, and in 1800 John
Adams occupied the unfinished mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue in view of the unfinished Capitol. British troops burned the house in 1814, leaving only the outer shell intact. During the
Civil War, Abraham
Lincoln established this residence as a visible center of national policy‐making, rather than simply the president's home.
The popular name “The White House,” some sources maintain, derived from the whitewash applied in the post–1812 restoration; others date it to Thomas
Jefferson's presidency. Through the nineteenth century, it was more properly called the Executive Mansion or the President's House. In 1902 Theodore
Roosevelt first used the name “The White House” on official papers and correspondence. That same year, Roosevelt added the West Wing, where, in 1909, William Howard
Taft built the first Oval Office. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt built the present Oval Office in 1934. In 1948–1952, Harry S.
Truman remodeled the interior and added the Truman Balcony and a bomb shelter. The East Room and the elliptical Blue Room are used for receptions and public events. Landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing designed the grounds.
National icon and symbol of presidential power, the White House has been the focus of national mourning, such as followed John F.
Kennedy's assassination; a center of crisis, as during the
Watergate scandal; and a target of protest, as during the
Vietnam War.
See also
Architecture: Public Architecture;
Early Republic, Era of the;
Federal Government, Executive Branch: The Presidency;
War of 1812.
Bibliography
Esther Singleton , The Story of the White House, 1907, reprint 1969.
Wendell Garrett, ed., Our Changing White House, 1995.
Kenneth Franklin Kurz
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GRASSLEY WORKS TO HAVE TREASURY SECRETARY REQUIRE TARP PARTICIPANTS TO REPORT ON USE OF FUNDS
Transcript from: Capitol Hill Press Releases; 11/9/2009; 700+ words
; ...money. Grassley fought the Treasury Department and the White Houseso that the Special Inspector General could work...EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.COPYRIGHT 2009 BY FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.
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WORD FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: CONTROLLING COSTS FOR FAMILIES, SMALL BUSINESSES, AND THE GOVERNMENT
Transcript from: Regulatory Intelligence Data; 11/10/2009; ; 637 words
; ...exploding our national deficit. -- Fortunately, the House and Senate versions of reform share a varietyof measures...EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.COPYRIGHT 2009 BY FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA DELIVERS REMARKS AT FORT HOOD MEMORIAL SERVICE
Transcript from: Washington Transcript Service; 11/10/2009; 700+ words
; ...PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA DELIVERS REMARKS AT FORT HOOD MEMIRAL SERVICE, AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY, AS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE NOVEMBER 10, 2009 SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA [*] OBAMA: We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteenAmericans...
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SEN. JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. SEN. JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. DELIVERS REMARKS AT MEMORIAL SERVICE AT FORT LEWIS
Transcript from: Washington Transcript Service; 11/10/2009; 700+ words
; ...AT MEMORIAL SERVICE AT FORT LEWIS, AS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE NOVEMBER 10, 2009 SPEAKER: VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH R...Aaron Aamat; Specialist Kevin Graham; Specialist Joseph White. Like every Blue Star family member, as my wife and...
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Capturing The Beauty Of South Florida's Wetlands
Transcript from: NPR All Things Considered; 11/9/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...wetlands in large black and white photographs. NPR's Greg Allen...he's lived there. He has a house and an art gallery in the heart...his mid-60s with a bushy, white beard. He's a striking figure...decided to go back to black and white. Mr. BUTCHER: So I took all...
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Obama's Fort Hood Speech Follows Presidents Past
Transcript from: NPR Morning Edition; 11/11/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...1995, came after his party had lost both houses of Congress and had helped him regain...steel of American resolve. LIASSON: White House officials said yesterday that President...diversity of the military; man and woman, white, black and brown, of all faiths and...
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For November 11, 2009, CBS
Transcript from: CBS Morning News; 11/11/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...disabled marine gets a brand-new house, thanks to his grateful hometown...a possible troop surge, but the White House says the debate is not over yet...General Stanley McChrystal wants.The White House denies a CBS News report that...
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LITTLE RED FLOWERS AND REMEMBERING VETERANS
Transcript from: Regulatory Intelligence Data; 11/11/2009; ; 655 words
; ...barbeques.Get rid of the days off. Take down the red, white and blue bunting andthe patriotic parades. What do...EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.COPYRIGHT 2009 BY FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.
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THE PRESIDENT ON VETERANS DAY
Transcript from: Regulatory Intelligence Data; 11/11/2009; ; 583 words
; ...after breakfast with veterans inthe East Room of the White House, the President and the First Lady alongwith the...EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.COPYRIGHT 2009 BY FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.
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ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL FARHAN HAQ ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL FARHAN HAQ HOLDS OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL REGULAR NEWS
Transcript from: Washington Transcript Service; 11/10/2009; 700+ words
; ...GENERAL FARHAN HAQ [*] HAQ: The Secretary-General is in Washington, D.C., where thismorning he was meeting with White House officials dealing with climatechange. In the afternoon, he will meet with Congressional leaders to talkabout the status...
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Names
Book article from: -Ologies and -Isms
...device in which one thing is named or referred to by the name of another, related thing; for example, the use of White House in referring to the presidential administration. —metonym, n. —metonymous, metonymie, metonymical...
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Lewis, Edmonia
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...preparatory part of the curriculum and beginning to take liberal arts courses. She lived with two white girls, Christine Ennes and Maria Miles, in a boarding house owned by an abolitionist minister. But her environment began to unravel on January 27...
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Pamuk, Orhan
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...by inherited wealth. His next work, Sessiz ev (The Silent House), appeared the following year and is set during Turkey's...was the first to appear in English translation. This was The White Castle, issued by Carcanet in 1990 five years after its original...
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Taft, Helen Herron
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...when the Herron family was invited to visit the Hayes White House when Taft was a teenager, she was so impressed by her...nation's capital. She often attended sessions of the House and Senate, observing the proceedings from the visitors...
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Woods, Granville T.
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...forthright manner in which he interacted with whites, and his fearless public challenges to white authority—all of which, because...supplement his education by persuading white friends to check out textbooks from libraries...rail yard in the town of Washington Court House, Ohio, northeast ...
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