Perpetuated. What i like about this is you get to not only debunk these things but try to figure out where they started and why people grew so attached to them because that also tells you a little bit more about how people understand the past and how they use it or misuse it. So, remember earlier in the semester we talked about the Jackson Magnolia. Who remembers the story . Andrew jacksons wife died right before he went to office so he planted this tree because it was her favorite tree. Matthew and he brought the seeds from the hermitage in tennessee and do you remember what jonathan told us . He said there isnt any contemporary evidence, Andrew Jackson never mentions planting a tree, theres nothing in newspapers so it seems like this is a story that has these romantic origins and its continued to grow from that ever since. So this is actually first known exterior photograph of the white house taken by a welsh born photographer named john plume jr. In january 1846. So if youre looking at the white house, this is 1846, so in theory jackson planted his tree already, right . But i dont see a magnolia anywhere. So this also bolsters the case that perhaps the magnolia came a little bit later than people think. Heres an outdoor shot by lewis walter in 18571858. You can see the white house conservatory on top of what is the west colonnade going to the area today that is the west wing. So you dont have the greenhouses but you have the conservatory above the west colonnade and in that place where you usually have the Jackson Magnolia, it looks more like a barren tree in the middle of winter. It doesnt look like a Jackson Magnolia. However, this is a photograph that was of the cassius clay battalion, union army, april 1861 and that looks like the Jackson Magnolia to me. If we look at that tree and its probably at that point, maybe about 15 to 20 feet tall, depends on when it was planted or if it was transported. But the photographic evidence seems to suggest that that famous tree attributed to Andrew Jackson more than likely was planted later, probably some time in the 1850s. However, that story and that legend has continued to grow and grow over time. Heres another shot. This is actually Matthew Brady so this is during the civil war. You can see the flag pole on the south lawn. Theres part of jeffersons ha ha wall and some of the Union Soldiers who were essentially keeping an eye on the white house grounds. Again, you look and you can see what looks like a young Jackson Magnolia so, again, early 1860s, it looks like there is the famous tree that we all know. In 2007, you probably remember this, december 2017, the Jackson Magnolia made a lot of news because there were reports that the tree was going to be cut down because of safety issues. And its announced that its going to be pruned and one of its major branches will be taken down and preserved. You remember from our visit to the white house you could kind of see, yes, the Jackson Magnolia is still there but its being held up by a steel pole, by these cables and its because pretty extensive rot on the inside of the tree. I pulled up some of the news stories from december of 2017. So whats interesting is, i guess ill ask you, what Media Outlets do you think published each story . Read this one and who do you think published this information. Any ideas . Nope. New york times. Matthew cnn. The first one was cnn. What about this one . Matthew . Msnbc. Matthew christopher . The Washington Post. Matthew the Washington Post, yeah. Do you notice theres a key difference between first one, the second one. What word did they use . Lore. Matthew white house lore. If we go back, theres not really it kind of repeats the story verbatim that we know but at least the Washington Post acknowledges that theres lore to it. It may not be entirely true, were just not sure. What about the final one . Any ideas . Kind of using it as a way to be critical of the president . Matthew how so . Because its talking about how theyre trying to take down, not because its old, but theyre trying to talk about how he wants to take it out as a negative way to betray the president. Matthew so you think theres a negative portrayal of the president . It seems like this article is pinning blame on melania trump. Thats why people would read it. Matthew what about the language before Jackson Magnolia . So called. Matthew so called. This is the new york post. Regardless of your politics, you can see how the stories have continued to the present and even when stories are put out there, there are slants to how the story is told. It was very different but he was considered a democrat, right. Because of its historical significance and the living history that continues to happen today, public fascination with the white house has created many legends and myths, some perpetuated by social media, the internet, journalists and historians. The point of todays lecture is not to discount or dismiss the fables but to unpack them and contextualize why they were created in the first place and reinforced. Myth number one, the white house is white because of the british burning. Have you heard that before . Youve never heard that . Alex . If im not wrong, they used white wash in order to hold the fencing together which is why it was then named the white house. Matthew exactly. If you look at the exterior of the white house, that particular sandstone, much of it which came from virginia, particularly aquia creek and the aquia quarries in Stafford County, a lot of the sandstone produced had a gray color so you have to imagine the white house as a gray building and what they did, because sandstone is so porous, you have to seal it and protect it from winter months because if water gets into the stones pores, it freezes and then it cracks because water expands in those pores so what the scottish stone masons did and the workers who built the white house, enslaved and free workers who built the white house, they applied a coat of lime based white wash in 1798. White wash is different than the white paint they use today but that was really where the story began of starting to call it the white house because it was a white wash that was first applied so they do add the first coat of lead white paint in 1818. This is after the burning. But that colloquium term of white house had already been established so the idea that they started calling it the white house just because of the burning, no. There was a white wash that existed before then. They kept the coats of white paint up until the 1970s during the Carter Administration is when they undertook a major project to strip all of the layers of paint off the white house. In some areas of the house, were talking 30 to 40 layers of paint that had to be removed. And the project ended up taking about 25 years. It was completed during the Clinton Administration so it started at the end of the Carter Administration and this gives you some visuals of what the white house looks like without its current variation of white paint. Again, you can see its primarily gray. It has bits of white in it but theres also these tints of red. Youve probably seen the Smithsonian Castle on the national mall. So some of the sandstone quarries, eventually when you dug too deep, you would hit these deep red veins and sometimes the stone would turn completely blood red. So thats why we call it washington brownstone. Made in the early part of the 19th century. That is sandstone, its just red sandstone. From Stafford County it was primarily gray. You can see the flecks, theres flecks of red within the stone itself but by stripping all the paint we could see the intricate detail of the carvings because you have to imagine layer of paint, layer of paint all of a sudden all of this is globbed. You cant see the carvings or see anything so it took 25 years but they finished it during the Clinton Administration and there are still parts of the white house and they saw it when they started removing paint, that there are still scorch marks you can see. Now on the exterior, its pretty much all painted. This is actually downstairs. We were on the ground floor quarter but behind it, the basement area service spaces, this is one of the doorways and you can see they left it unpainted and you can see some of the scorch marks still around the frame. But again, you can see the variations of the stone, also probably tell you that the stone was coming from different sources. Heres a shot of the north portico. Again, you get a sense of how white the building is and really you cant see the individual stones as opposed to here you can actually see each individual stone and again, flecks of red, streaks of red throughout the north portico columns and this is during the reagan administration. Heres a shot of the north side of the white house and again you can see the individual gray stones on either side but then still painted portico in the north entrance. Lets just say hypothetically you wanted to paint your apartment or dorm room or something the color of the white house, the closest you can get is durhams whisper white thats commercially available. Thats as close as you can get. White house myth number two. White house tunnels. We were just talking about this before class. The existence of tunnels, who used them and why did they use them. So one of the stories that there were tunnels beneath the white house that allowed for a quick escape, that one could get all the way to the Potomac River and that Dolley Madison used the tunnel to escape to Octagon House and Abraham Lincoln had an escape tunnel. These are not true. We know the architect of the white house did build several sewer systems and my guess is that Dolley Madison wouldnt have climbed through the sewer. And these were installed for Running Water but there really werent any fullsized tunnels anyone could have used. Now, of course heres Octagon House where the madisons lived for about six months after the burning and its just down the street from the white house. Now, during the civil war, general Winfield Scott did suggest the possibility of adding a tunnel between the white house and the Treasury Building and heres the Treasury Building down at the bottom and up at the top you have the war department. At that point it would have been probably war, you would have navy and state using that space, as well. With the Treasury Department was to the east of the white house and the idea was that this could sort of be a citadel of sorts. If the Confederate Army innovated washington and they didnt want president lincoln to be captured, they could move him quickly to the Treasury Building, he could seek safety in one of the vaults and that essentially the people that were guarding him would have to fight to the death. This was an idea that Winfield Scott had. It never really materialized because lincoln didnt have to but heres a picture of the Treasury Building later and again you kind of get a sense of this imposing spectacle that this would have been a good place but if you were going to move to a fortresslike structure in the 19th century, this was a good place to do it. During Franklin Roosevelts administration, there actually is an underground tunnel built between the east wing and the Treasury Building and in fact they go so far as to even furnish a room in the Treasury Building for franklin roosevelt. Heres a picture of that room. This is where we start to see the presidency entering the new age of world wars and the cold war and that president ial security obviously changes but they need to have either structures in place to protect the president in the event of an immediate attack or in case that there is a chance that there could be an aerial bombing or later a Nuclear Weapon targeting the white house and the United States that the president has a place to go. Now, during the truman administration, thats when two sub basements are added beneath the ground floor of the white house so up to trumans time in the white house, there really wasnt central air conditioning, there wasnt central heating. This is a big part of the 1940th renovation, gutting it, changing things. Its made out of concrete and steel and they dig further underground and part of the reason they do that is because they need that space for things like utilities, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing. But also to add this walkway which now runs the length between the west wing and the east wing. Heres a finished version. And now this tunnel would go all the way to the east wing and it hooks up with roosevelts bomb shelter so roosevelt had the tunnel built for access to the Treasury Department but he also had the east wing built in 1942 and thats the perfect time if youre building a structure to be also building something underneath it so he actually had the bomb shelter made beneath the east wing. Closer, didnt have to get to the Treasury Building and truman connects it between the west wing and that security complex so if the president is working in the west wing or the oval office, they have a quick way to get to the bomb shelter and you probably actually have all seen it before, this is actually part of the president ial Emergency Operations center that was used on 9 11 by Vice President dick cheney and several members of the bush cabinet because remember for some time we werent quite sure where that last plane was heading towards. It certainly seemed like when it turned in pennsylvania that it was coming to washington, d. C. Was it going to the capitol . Was it going to the white house . We dont know because the passengers on that flight decided to try to take control of the plane and it crashed. But essentially what they did was they rushed white house staff and members of the administration down into the Emergency Operations center. President bush was visiting a school in florida at the time and they advised him to stay away from washington, d. C. Until they figured out what was going to happen with the last plane. But for the members of the administration, there wasnt any type of real protocol for this type of scenario. Everybody that ive talked to or has talked about that experience essentially has told the secret service came in and told people to get out and to get to a secure location and get away from the white house because we dont know where this plane is. So and this is actually this is an image of that day. You can see things do look a little bit outdated and this was also then spurred a new effort to modernize and put in new technology and Communications Systems and the president ial Emergency Operations center. Myth number three, Dolley Madison saves the Gilbert Stewart portrait. We had to read a selection of sources for todays class and hopefully you did that. Now, who wants to you probably all heard the story before. You probably heard it in grade school, in high school. So who wants to tell us what youve heard. Alex . The british were coming in and they were burning down washington, d. C. Dolley madison runs back into the white house with a few people, takes down the Gilbert Stewart portrait and runs out to save it. Matthew in that version of events, Dolley Madison, its like a lastsecond thing, shes there, the british are essentially you can see the british on the horizon. Shes about to leave but she runs back in. At least you did acknowledge that there were other people there but that she was there when they took it off and they sent it away. Part of the reason why the story is so popular is because this was the story that was really put out there after the war of 1812 and Dolley Madison also played a part in keeping the story alive and well but it was picked up for Childrens School books. It was published in a variety of different storygraphical works. And it was a story that kept getting perpetuated and well talk more about that as we dig into the sources. Source number one, the selected letters of Dolley Payne Madison and its anna cutts writing to her sister, Dolley Madison, circa august 23, 1814. The burning takes place on the 24th. My sister, tell me for gods sake where you are and what you are doing and what youre going to do. I have only time to ask mr. C to take out the floor part of the carriages, putting in the piano trying to escape anything he can get in there or wagon since the british are coming. We hear nothing but what is horrible here. I know not who to send this to and will say little. What do you take away from reading that letter . How its written, how its phrased . Shes trying to get as much as she can written to her sister, its really short and sweet, i got to go type thing. Matthew you can definitely tell its very rushed. It also seems she doesnt finish entire sentences. Theres clauses and a pause and she says something else. Its relatively short. She even says i dont know who to send this to. She sent it to the white house, to Dolley Madison, but she wasnt sure if she would be there even or if she would be out with president madison who was out in the field to watch the battle. She doesnt know, it seems rush. Thats fair. Now, what about this, you had to read this. This is actually from the National Portrait gallery of distinguished americans published in 1836 by d. C. Socialite and historian Margaret Maynard smith and what she publishes is based off of Dolley Madisons recollections. There is no response to this letter. This is the sisters letter. Dolley madison always said she responded but that letters lost. Theres a story that it was eaten by mice. Theres another story that it was burned. Many years later, 1836, now this is 20 years later, when Margaret Maynard smith is writing her biography, she asked Dolley Madison, oh, can i see the letter and she says we dont have the letter but i can i can give you a copy of what i remember. So this is what she gives her. So, again, tuesday, august 23, 1814, dear sister, my husband left me yesterday morning to join general winder. He inquired whether i had courage or firmness to remain in the pes house and on the assurance that i have no fear he left me beseeching me to take care of myself and the cabinet papers public and private. She mentioned she received two dispatches. The enemy seemed stronger than reported. I am accordingly ready. I have pressed as many cabinet papers in the trunk as to fill one carriage. Our private property must be sacrificed. It is impossible to procure wagons for transportation. The letter goes on and on. So what do you notice about this letter . She was packing things away in case the british were coming to the white house. Matthew if this is supposed to be her response to her sister, remember how frantic her sisters letter was. Does this letter seem frantic . Does it seem it was written after the fact . So now do you question whether or not, how accurate the narrative is . Think about it for a moment, if somebody sends you something and you need to frantically get it done and then three months later its sort of like, tell that story again but take your time, walk us through every step. Youre going to add a lot more detail and by that point in time, this is 1836, the storys become pretty well versed that Dolley Madison saved the Gilbert Stewart portrait so at this point she cant really go back on that. She kind of has to align things with how the public has perceived the whole story. But whats interesting is now this letter responds, she goes into wednesday morning, 12 00, since sunrise i have been turning my spy glass in every direction and watching with unwearied anxiety. 3 00, would you believe it we have a battle skirmish near bladensburg and i am here within sound of the cannon. Two marriages come to bid me to fly and i wait for him. At this late hour a wagon has been procured. I had it filled with the most valuable portable articles belonging to the house. Whether it will reach its destination or fall into the hands of the british, events must determine. Our kind friend mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure and i insist on waiting until the large picture of general washington is secured and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process would sound too tedious for these perilous moments. I have ordered the frame to be broken and canvas taken out. It is done and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen from new york for safe keeping. And now i must leave this house or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road and i am directed to take. Thats Dolley Madisons version of events circa 1836. Matthew . I thought it was weird how she said, general washington, instead of president washington, because thats how she thinks of him . Matthew nowadays weve become more accustomed theres president and theres also former president but also we still sometimes refer to people as president george w. Bush, president bill clinton. In those days, this was one of those precedent things that washington was after, there should only be one president so when he left the presidency, he preferred people address him general so typically they called him general washington. So we have the frantic letter from sister anna cutts, we have Dolley Madisons response many years later as she remembers it so not the actual response from august 23 or 24, and then we have this newspaper article from the Baltimore Sun dated may 25, 1847. So did you find anything interesting about this particular article . It was sort of i dont want to say rude but it was a little critical of Dolley Madison, because, one the real saviors when its talking about the people that actual saved the painting, suggesting he wasnt a real savior. A jab at her. Matthew sure. This is 1847. Now were talking about 33 years after the actual event and theres still this scuttlebutt in the newspaper about what exactly happened, who did what, who deserves credit and it gets to a point where even Dolley Madison who at this point is quite elderly. I think she only lives a couple more years before she passes away in washington, where she needs to weigh in and sort of as the article suggests, a historical error corrected. But it talks about general john mason because a new story emerged that general john mason was the one who saved the portrait and the two gentlemen from new york that Dolley Madison mentions were these guys, jacob barker and robert de peyster, the two men from new york who did walk into the white house and essentially they were responsible for transporting the Gilbert Stewart to safety. So those men were certainly there. That was their account. Dolley madison agrees it was their account. But they do have some minor differences. Theres also daniel carroll. She mentioned mr. Carroll. So daniel carroll, he had gotten more involved in saying that his Family Member who had helped essentially transport Dolley Madison away from the white house also was the one who saved the portrait so we still dont have any clear answer. But whats interesting is that Dolley Madison writes a letter to robert de peyster in february 1848, again, towards the end of her life. You will see by the enclosed what is said at the time the impression that mr. Carroll saved stewarts portrait of washington is erroneous. The paper which was to accompany the letter has not reached me but i believe his family believes he rescued it. On the contrary, mr. Carroll left me to join mr. Madison when i directed my servants thats an interesting statement i directed my servants in what manner to remove it from the wall and remained with them until it was done. I accepted your offer to assist me by inviting you to help me preserve this portrait which you kindly carried between you to the humble route. I acted out of respect for general washington. The merit belongs to me. Please accept my respect and best wishes. The merit in this case belongs to me. Now, who here has heard of Paul Jennings . What do you remember about Paul Jennings . We talked about Paul Jennings earlier this semester. His order by Dolley Madison to take the portrait. Matthew hes a key player, right. Wrote a biography later on. Matthew he wrote a recollections, sort of like some of his Life Experiences but also his experience with the madisons so he was born in montpelier, born enslaved to the madisons and he traveled with them to washington when the madisons went there first as secretary of state but then later as president. Jonathan . First white house memoir. Matthew he did. At the time when it was published essentially during the civil war there was some question about how authentic or how accurate this account could be. Its partially because of his formerly enslaved status because at that point he was a free African American man. Its similar to what we saw with elizabeth keckley, question the narrative based on their social status or former social status as formerly enslaved people but jennings has a very interesting version of the story, as well, and that was the last source that you had to read for today. Its a little bit longer and it talks about the events of august 24. So what did you notice about this last source . What did you pick out that was a little bit different from the other sources . Leaving was relaxed, not rushed. It took a couple of hours for the british to come and there was a lot of [indiscernible] sen. Harris one of the things thats interesting is because jennings is working to set the table for what they expect to be a victory meal at the president s house and a messenger rides up and says clear out, clear out. Certainly gives the impression that the british are on the march and theyre going to be in washington at any minute. Thats the story, rush, get out of there. But jennings implies it took a while for the british to get to washington and we know from other accounts that was true. The british didnt reach washington until about twilight and the first place they went was the capitol to burn that so they dont actually burn the president s house until much later that night. So his version coincides with other eyewitness accounts. Anything else jump out to you about this source . At the very end of the story he says that the idea that she herself took it down is ridiculous because he says she would have needed a ladder to do it and he says all she did was get her silver and then run away and then, too, it was the gardener and the door keeper were the ones that took it down and brought it without her. Matthew a very different version of events. Now why do you think jennings tells this story in the 1860s . Because he didnt want, at that point, Dolley Madison was more like trying to get, again, in the spotlight, it seems. And jennings, after being enslaved by that family for years, most of his life, was kind of tired of it. I would be, too. Dolley madison was trying to portray herself in a heroic sense but she really wasnt. She was any other rich white girl. Matthew and also keep in mind that after James Madison passes away, he essentially leaves his enslaved people to Dolley Madison. He adds the stipulation that he really doesnt want her to break up families but she does and she sold Paul Jennings to an insurance salesman named pollar webb in d. C. So she does sell Paul Jennings over to someone else and eventually its Daniel Webster who buys out his debt and he enters into a Work Agreement with jennings that hell work with webster and pay off the debt and earn his freedom so thats how jennings gets from being enslaved to being free. Keep in mind, Dolley Madisons been dead for a decade by the time this is published. So he doesnt this isnt published while shes still alive. Its very strategically placed later but there are some interconnections between his account and some of the things shes saying but then there are some Unanswered Questions like how would she get the portrait down . Some people say the portrait was cut out of the game. Thats not true. They did have to unscrew it from the wall and break the frame because when they did conservation work on it they were able to check and look for serrated edges and there werent any so that blows the hole in that theory so ultimately what we end up coming away with is that these men, remember, Dolley Madison mentions her servants. At that time, oftentimes people did not use the term slave. They just sort of reserved to anybody who worked for them, whether it was for wages or they were owned, as servants. We dont know necessarily who she shes specifically talking about but when we look at jennings account, he mentions john susay. His real name was jeanpierre susaint, the steward of the white house and the gardener but those two positions would have been paid so to use the word servant seems to suggest that perhaps at least one of her enslaved workers was responsible. And jennings, i mean, hes there. Hes part of that account. He had the eyewitness account and then de peyster actually says when he labels the people that were there, he mentions servants and one of the dining room servants, he says. So ultimately what we take away from all of of this is that Dolley Madison didnt cut out a portrait. She didnt stand up on a ladder and try to remove that portrait herself. You guys have all seen the Gilbert Stewart portrait in the white house. Its a massive portrait. You would need a group of people to take it down, right . Lets just think about it in terms of basic physics. Youre going to need probably at least three or four people but Dolley Madison for most of the 19th century got the lions share of the credit. Since then weve reevaluated that and i usually like to go with Dolley Madison ordered the portrait to be saved because you cant deny that she was the one who said, we need to save that portrait and really you can kind of think of it as it was really the first major act of Art Preservation in a sense in American History but you also have to give due to the other people who participated in it. So if you ever hear anybody talk about Dolley Madison saving the portrait, you can fill them in on all of this Background Information and you can tell them, well, its probably more appropriate to say ordered to be saved. Now, lets think about it from Dolley Madisons perspective. Why perpetual this story . It looks good for her. It looks good for her and also looks good for the president and tells a story when the british were attacking washington which was a huge embarrassment. Yes, it paints her well but also shows that the country will still last burning of the white house. Matthew ok. We have it makes Dolley Madison look good. This was obviously a low point for americans in terms of morale and the war effort. Any other reasons . Let me ask you this. Brian . [indiscernible] more focused on something positive. Matthew something more positive and thats what americans needed to hear about. I want you to imagine for a moment, lets think about this in todays terms. If a foreign army invaded the United States and burned down washington, d. C. , how would you feel . Probably not great. But also, how would you what would you think of the president whos leading the country at that time and their leadership . So let me ask you this, close your eyes for a second. When i say James Madison, whats first that i think pops in your mind . Short guy. Constitution. What was the first name that popped in your head . Constitution . University, constitution. And obviously, James Madison deserves credit and his due but if you asked anybody on the street, oh, yeah, James Madison, wasnt he president when the city was burned down . Would anybody say that . No. Everybody talks about the constitution. Its almost like in addition to the war of 1812 being sort of a forgotten war, weve also kind of relinquished that James Madison was president when the city was destroyed or nearly destroyed and i think a big part of it was Dolley Madisons role in building this folklore about saving an important piece of American History and i think thats also probably helped when they were talking about should we rebuild, should we move somewhere else, you know, it was worth putting themselves at risk to save a piece of American History. If we move away and build a new capitol, what does that say about us . And this was a positive story. Several you made that point. The war of 1812 was not a particularly decisive war for the americans. In fact, a lot of the issues that we still had with the british continued beyond the war. But we dont really remember that part. Seems like when you mention the war of 1812, people remember Dolley Madison and saving of the Gilbert Stewart portrait. And this is probably, in my time being a white house historian, this is the one that is hardest to try to untangle from Popular Culture because its everywhere. So, again, if you run into somebody to talk about Dolley Madison and the burning of the white house, you can tell them more about the correspondence and when it was dated and it was a recollection and it was a memory and so on and so on. All right, lets shift gears to the white house alligator. Not much of a transition in between but the story goes that president John Quincy Adams received a pet alligator from the marquis de lafayette when he did his grand tour of the United States in 1824, 1825. When he visited the white house the first time in 1824, james monroe was president and he visited again for a Birthday Celebration in september for himself, september 1825, John Quincy Adams threw a Birthday Ball and reception for him at the white house and theres this story that he presented John Quincy Adams with an alligator and that John Quincy Adams, not really knowing what to do with that, essentially just put the alligator in the east room and that was just where i guess thats where alligators are stored because at that point in time tomorrow the east room wasnt finished yet. It was sort of a Storage Space so its like, ok, i guess that part sort of holds up. But if you know anything about John Quincy Adams, he was meticulous with his note taking and his diaries and he was the kind of guy that when he went for a walk in the city, he would identify plants and trees and flowers and then try to remember their latin names and he would record them. It was a way he was teaching himself the latin names of plants and trees. So i find it hard to believe that John Quincy Adams wouldnt have mentioned in his diaries that he received an alligator. Seems like a pretty standout event, right . But lets keep digging. August levsir, lafayettes secretary, who published an account of the travels, mentioned seeing alligators during their voyage to savannah in march 1825. So they did see alligators. Its possible. They went to savannah, maybe they captured a baby alligator and brought it to the white house. Well, thats a pretty big gap between march and september so what were they doing with an alligator for six months . That doesnt make much sense. What i found when i was doing a little bit more research into this particular myth, i couldnt find any newspaper accounts related to it but what i did find was this 1888 childrens magazine called wide awake by Harriet Taylor upton and what it said was, a quote from that particular article, when General Lafayette made his visit there, this famous east room was given up to him to deposit the many curiosities sent him. Some live alligators among them. So really in 1888, thats the First Published instance of alligators in the east room. Thats about, what, 60some years after lafayette actually visited. And this is actually an article from the evening star from 1867 and it mentions a mr. John theckers Grocery Store in georgetown and it says the crocodile excitement. The alligator at the Grocery Store, mention of which was made, created excitement in town and many have called to see it. So there were people putting alligators in stores in d. C. In the late 1860s so is it possible one of those stories morphed from that . Probably. Theres really no evidence that there were alligators in the east room so i consider that to be a pretty big myth. Myth number five, Theodore Roosevelt and Christmas Trees. Has anyone heard this before . What do you know about the story or what do you remember hearing about it . I dont really remember the full story. All i know is that the Christmas Trees is mostly a germanic tradition taken over to the United States. Thats just what my family has told me but theyre also german. Matthew the whole idea of putting a Christmas Tree in your house is a much more modern tradition. In fact, the first documented instance of a Christmas Tree at the white house is during the Benjamin Harrison administration in 1889 so the first documented instance was much later. Its become much more consistent in the 20th and 21st century and now we have annual Christmas Decorations and the Christmas Tree lighting and the Christmas Tree in the blue room is a lot more compared to what president s in the late 19th century did. Oftentimes if they had anything it would have been a small tree up in the second floor in the private quarters. They really didnt put things on the state floor because thats where people were constantly going. But the story goes that Theodore Roosevelt, because he was such a big conservationist, did not believe in cutting down Christmas Trees and thats why the roosevelts didnt have Christmas Trees and so the story goes that one of the roosevelt boys, archie, snuck a Christmas Tree up into the white house and he put it in the closet in one of the upstairs rooms and decorated it and of course this is then later the image that captures the story that it was archie who brought christmas to the white house and even though president roosevelt didnt believe in cutting down trees, he let this one slide. So goes the story. Now, roosevelt was on record opposing destructive lumbering practices. But he never appears to have singled out the practice of harvesting Christmas Trees. Its worth noting that one of the people he worked with, chief forester actually saw nothing wrong with the practice and by 1907 was urging the creation of businesses specifically for growing Christmas Trees. A few contemporary newspapers note how Family Tradition held the roosevelts never had a Christmas Tree. It was expected that roosevelt, the father of six children when president , would have a tree in the white house despite this but he never did just because the roosevelts didnt celebrate christmas with a tree. To the earlier point, some families didnt. So there was no ban. Some people say roosevelt banned trees. It just wasnt how the roosevelts celebrated christmas. Archie changed that in 1907. The president got a kick out of it and he let his son continue to do it but the whole idea that there was a ban on Christmas Trees is a myth. Heres an image of one of the earliest renditions of a Christmas Tree, upstairs in what is today the yellow oval room on the second floor. And, of course, this is the tradition today now with the the annual Christmas Tree in the blue room. Its been consistently in the blue room since 1961 when the kennedys started that tradition. There were two times when it was moved elsewhere 1962 when they were refurbishing and renovating the blue room and in 1969 the nixons moved it out to the Entrance Hall but other than those two years since 1961 this has always been in the blue room. Any of that recently came out with melania theres trees all over the white house. Matthew great question because this is something i was just asked by someone else so i know the answer. I would say up to the eisenhowers, typically what most families did was they had a Christmas Tree up in the residence and then there was a large Christmas Tree in the east room. Of course, the east room is the tallest room and thats usually where they would put an 18foot, 20foot tree. And a lot of president s just did this practice because it made the most sense. If were going to do christmas receptions or parties, you do it in the east room, the biggest space. Usually they did have annual receptions for white house staff, as well. First instance of a tree in the blue room is 1912. The tafts were the first ones to do it but it doesnt become a consistent thing until the kennedys. When we get to the eisenhowers, Mamie Eisenhower loved to decorate for holidays and shes really the first one that jumps into halloween. The annual halloween celebration that you probably remember reading about kicks off with her but she also loved christmas and all of a sudden the white house went from having maybe a few trees to i think one year they had 16 trees and then towards the end of the Eisenhower Administration they had 29 trees which is a lot but i know last year the trumps had 81 trees. So its grown ever since the eisenhowers where all of a sudden now Christmas Decorations are not just isolated to the quarters and theyre not just in the east room. Theyre everywhere. Theyre on the outside of the white house. Theyre all over the state floor. Theyre on the ground floor. Theyre on the east wing, in the west wing. Weve really seen the expansion of how the first families and staff decorate for the holidays since the eisenhowers. Yes, alex . Whos in charge, who has been in charge in the past of decorating . Is it the historical association, curators . The first lady . Or a bunch of people . Matthew all of that is done internally. I would say primarily decoration is done, overseen by the office of the first lady, east wing staff. They have upwards of 500 people who will come to the white house and help decorate and they get all of those decorations done right after thanksgiving and then reveal the decorations usually the next week so they need to have it pretty much orchestrated, planned, organized, and then be able to have all those people turn it around and get the decorations ready by the following week. And the decorations themselves, they either end up with the president ial libraries or they go off to the executive support facility. Sometimes one of the things people often wonder is are they buying new decorations every year . Sometimes they will repurpose previous years decorations. They can change the ornaments, they can change the colors. But sometimes they do use they get new decorations, as well. Ok. Myth number six, the naming of the white house. Have you heard this one . Who called the white house . Theodore roosevelt that used it on stationery for the first time . Matthew so the story goes that it was president Theodore Roosevelt who officially changed the name of executive mansion to the white house even though as weve already covered people were sort of referring to it as the white house because it had that lime based white wash but it wasnt like an official name change. And here, of course, this is one of the instances that i was able to locate. So what you have is on one side on the left side, that is the executive mansion, washington stationery. You can see thats september 1901 and thats later, thats november 1901. So theres that gap in that month of october, right. What do you notice about the paper on the left . Anything in particular stand out to you . How is it different . Besides executive mansion and white house . The one on the left is signed by the secretary to the president , the one on the right is signed by the president. Matthew thats one of the differences. Yeah . Blueprint and black print. Matthew different signatures, different colored fonts, type written. The color of the paper itself. The one on the right looks more white. The one on the left looks more cream. Matthew different color paper. More wording on the paper on the right than the left. Matthew youre finding all these great differences but im looking for the one big one. What about the outside of it . Does anybody know what that is . The border, what is it . Black. Matthew yes. Why does this letter of president ial correspondence, why does it have black trim around it . Any ideas . Easier to send . Matthew free mail when its government. What just happened in september 1901 . Oh im thinking of the black hand. Thats a totally different thing. President mckinley just died. Matthew president mckinley just died in september 1901. Hes assassinated and lingers for a while and they think hes Getting Better and it turns out he has a terrible injection and he dies and usually what you have is a month of mourning. So all the stationery used at the white house for that month will look like that. So you have the black trim, executive mention, washington in black. We call this mourning paper. It was what people did. Bright blue ink screams mourning. [laughter] matthew we know in september, late september 1901, theyre using this mourning paper which must have been made shortly after mckinley died and they used it and then in early february we move to the white house so that tells us, ok, october 1901. Something happened between those two. Heres another good example. This is actually a document, its in the National Archives and again what do you see on we see the trim. We see the mourning paper. You see executive mansion in black but it says my dear sir