Last night on the 50th anniversary of the tour but did not want to make of you have to choose between sharing valentines day with loved ones or with your friends here at the kennedy library. So were so pleased to have so many of you with us this evening. 50 years ago Jacqueline Kennedy introduced herself to the nation. In a way they knew her through the role as the president s wife and mother of two children and charmed world leaders. But on february 14th, 1962, it was a more substantive Jacqueline Kennedy who guided viewers on a televised tour of the white house and the nation was transfixed. 46 million americans watched that night and an additional 10 million tuned in days later. The reviews described her as virtuoso performer with subtlety and standard. My note relates to the day she spent taping the tour. After dinner she and president kennedy watched some outtakes with friends. Seeing how his wife had clearly outshined him in her portion compared to the clip there which he appeared the president asked cbs if it is possible to reshoot his segment the following morning. Essentially he followed the same script the next day but tried admirably to match his wifes charm, ease and engaging presence. You could decide how well he does when we watch that clip in a moment. Tonight well watch a portion of the tour and then it will our great honor to hear from the Current White House curator william allman. It is often said that nice guys finish last especially in our Nations Capital but bill allman is a wonderful exception to the rule. He became curator of the white house on august 1st, 2002 serving as assistant since 1976. No one has done more in recent years to preserve the white house and the historic collections and helping to update them to our times. Were delighted hes here with us this evening. After the film mr. Allman will give a brief slideshow presentation about the white house and then ill moderate a conversation with him during which time we welcome your questions. Three quick notes. Well be ending early to ensure mr. Allman catches his plane back to d. C. You could own your own copy of mrs. Kennedyays tour buying it outright in the museum store open after the forum and for a limited time if you make a purchase in the store or our estore were giving away free copies to mark the 50th anniversary. And this coming wb cbs sunday morning will air a story on mrs. Kennedy and the white house tour and i hope you all will tune into that. Mrs. Kennedy was one of the founders of this library. It was a great hope to be a vital center of education and exchange which would grow and change with the times. I believe our forums, programs and exhibits continue to be guided by her spirit and i hope live up to the standard she set in her virtuoso performance 50 years ago. Lets relive that moment now together. A tour of the white house with mrs. John f. Kennedy. Created and produced by cbs news for the Cbs Television network. This is the white house as seen from the south lawn. For the next hour mrs. John f. Kennedy invites you to visit. Good evening, everybody. Do i need to use this . Okay. What id like to do for a few minutes is bring a little color to black and white tv show. Some color pictures of how these rooms looked when mrs. Kennedy was doing it and then some pictures of how the rooms have changed since that time. Because i think mrs. Kennedys would been the very first person to say to everyone that what she was doing was a first step when she was asking people to donate things, well, maybe the very best things werent being offered at the time but when she had nothing you took a lot of things that were offered. So there have been improvements into the collection and growth in the collection and that is what she expected every first lady and family to do, to contribute to the house remaining a museum and growing and becoming more interesting to the public. You see here the white house. And a picture of mrs. Kennedy during her televised taping, a color still picture taken showing her the blue room. One of the things the president talked about was how many people had come to visit. They had 1. 3 Million People in the year 1961. So it wasnt so much that the tour kicked off the interest in the white house, mrs. Kennedy had already attracted the public attention. She was she got early in 1961 congress to pass the law that she mentioned which didnt just protect the collection but established that the museum character of the public rooms of white house must be maintained in per perpetuity and the secret service has a lot of say about the Security Issues but the museum character was what she was so interested in grasping. Then she created the Curators Office also in 1961 with the idea that you needed a professional staff there to collect and preserve and interpret and conserve the pieces that she found in the house and the things that she was adding to the house. We actually have the dichotomy in our collection today. We still refer to the old collection, which was the stuff that mrs. Kennedy found that had survived the 19th century auctions and the giving away of official furnishings and then the new collection was everything she was collecting. But, in fact, those things, to a large extent, were older than the things that she already had in the socalled old collection. But she had lots of people coming to the white house because she made the public aware that she was making it into a museum. It increased nationwide the interest in Historic Preservation and old houses and the contents of old houses and so one of her early acquisitions was this little engraving. Im not advancing after all of our conversations. There we go. Sorry. Wrong button. This 1840 engraving was acquired for the white house collection in 1961. And the engraver entitled the piece all creation going to the white house. Because even as early as 1840 they were envisioning that the public was attracted to the white house. In that period it was attracted because people like Andrew Jackson were living in the building. By 1961 mrs. Kennedy gave the house a whole will you level of attraction as a Historic Site and a shrine to the presidency and a great museum of important american objects. So following through her tour route, basically you would see the upper left hand corner the east room as she found it in 1961. Not too much has changed from what Theodore Roosevelt had done to the room in 1902 with the architects. The chandeliers, the torches, the corn over the drapes dated from the 1902 period. Will you see in the picture that the mantels are white and marble but mrs. Kennedy thought white was better and painted them. And that was fine for a long time. They were difficult to keep white. The paint chipped and such. And so you see in the lower righthand corner todays east room. As it was refurbished in the 1990s. The red mantels have been restored to their original color because they match the heathers and the baseboards. There were no carpets in the room in the 19th century but one of the things that First Lady Barbara Bush was asked that it was so reverb rent and so these were delivered early in the Clinton Administration but designed using the plaster work of the ceiling, the 18th century english design feature of having carpets and ceilings reflect each other. Something that mrs. Kennedy would have appreciated greatly. So it makes the room less noisy. But it also takes away some of the opportunities that the children once had, the theater res svelte children were noted for roller skating around the room and subsequent children have had attempts at recreating the mayhem of the Theodore Roosevelt kids. But the room is still used, is still left largely unfurnished and used for all sorts of parties and entertaining. This is where mrs. Kennedy held the famous dinner for the nobel Prize Winners of the americas and president kennedy delivered the famous remark that i never quote quite correctly but said never has so much talent been assembled in the white house except when Thomas Jefferson dined here alone. There we go. She pointed out the great portrait of George Washington by gilbert stewart. That is our iconic object that was hung on the walls when the house opened in 1,800 and saved by Dolly Madison from the fire. You might know that cbs news misspelled dollys name in the that James Madison was fleeing from the white house after Dolly Madison had grabbed the painting and taken off in one direction and he took off in another direction and he was running the government for one night in brookeville, maryland, sitting in this little desk made by the owner of the house. She moved down the hall out of our normal tour route and got into the state dining room first. The picture at the upper left is how she would have found it. The black marble mantel piece is what was instilled in the truman registration. The lions head carved on it changed to bison heads was, in fact, removed by the truman renovation and sent to the troouman library. Mrs. Kennedy actually invited them to send the mantel back and it wasnt the no thank you. Its mine. Im keeping it. What she was alluding to was that she was having the same firm, the same carving firm, create a new white marble version of the gray stone mantle that was installed in 1902. You see that in the picture of the lower right which is after she was finished working on the room. She kept the drapes from the truman era and the table, and the chairs. New rug. New mantle. Theres the mantle piece closer showing the inscription as its carved in the panels and the bison head at the lower right corner where Theodore Roosevelt, he lived with it for six years. Theodore roosevelt said its not an american animal. Fix it. They had to recarve the lion heads as American Bison heads. She cited the great Monroe Center piece, it extends to 14. 5 feet long. It has 18 classical figures that hold up the candles. Most of the time its five sections long and theres two sections in storage. At the bottom where the lady is in the black and white picture, it has the companys naime, the makers in france. Mrs. Kennedys staff were only looking at the five sections and they wrote an article in a magazine attributing it to someone else, not realizing they had a piece in the basement signed by the makers. She took them into the red room. This is the red room as it would have looked when he went in and say, oh, my. The red cloth was put on the walls in imitations of fabrics that had been on the walls under Theodore Roosevelt. In comparing these two pictures, a lot of the same furniture remains in todays room as was put in by mrs. Kennedy. Probably the most intact of her public rooms. Most of the american empire style furniture dating from 1810 to 1830. You can see on the left hand sign the center table thats labeled by the manufacturer. Mrs. Kennedy cited in the tour that he was an important cabinet maker. We were very lucky mrs. Kennedy saw empire as something worth collecting. She cited the sofa behind it calling it the Dolly Madison sofa. That was a mistake at the time. It had no association with mrs. Madison. The paperwork said it was a style of the sofas mrs. Madison had. The little one in the black and white picture belonged to washingtons grandfather. It was replaced by mrs. Kennedy by the incredible sofa that remains today which is a sofa that has dolphins or sea serpents carved for the legs and arms. The blue room as it looked when mrs. Kennedy took the tour in there. The heavy wall fabric dated back to 1952. She had the monroe furniture arriving in the room. The table on the righthand side is the table she cited. Rather unfortunate table in the middle of the room was made by the carpentry shop and was a plywood disc with a fabric covering. She really didnt want this cloth to continue. She was looking for something truly more period. You see on the left the stripped wall paper and decorative elements that she felt to be more in keeping with the monroe period. It was criticized at the time. People said it made it look like the french ladys bedroom. Todays room on the righthand side is a wall paper swag thats an absolute period document that we found at the cooper collection in new york and it was installed in 1995 when the room was done again. What you see in the room is different wall paper, different carpeting, but the feeling of the room that mrs. Kennedy created, she would be thrilled to know that more Historical Research was going into how to keep the room looking historic. You see one of these two blue chairs in its current fabric. This has the eagle on it. Its gone through three different color combinations. The side chair is one of two she acquired. Its marked, by bottom inscription was the french cabinet maker. What we do today is minimally invasive upholstery where you attach your fabrics to the new material rather than the old materials. The table she cited in its original location is now in the Entrance Hall because in 1979 we acquired the sofa from the set. That was the only wall long enough to take a 9foot sofa. Theres her chair on the left in the nixon era fabric. On the right is the way the chair looks today. This chair was the most intact of all the chairs she acquired. For an excision at the smithsonian about the Decorative Arts of the white house we were working on restoring the chair to its original appearance. It would have had red fabric and it would have had this really high sheen polished, almost metal like finish to its gold leaf surface. Sorry. My finger is too fast. She was very interested in adding to the portrait collection. When she arrived at the white house, the Art Collection was mm exclusively portraits. She saw the importance of life portraits. She acquired the wonderful Thomas Jefferson in the upper left hand corner and then the succeeding first ladies have added to it. Monroe was acquires during the johnson administration. Madison was painted when he was the president. In the Reagan Administration we acquired john adams by john trumble. Weve been adding portraits consistent with mrs. Kennedys interest in that activity. Theres the green room when she had started decorating, it had the heavy green fabric of the truman administration. She started to add this federal style furniture from about the period of 1800. Two views of that room. Heres a black and white picture of the wall that shows the Daniel Webster sofa she cited. Thats in the upper righthand side corner. The bottom is the card table that is one of my favorite pieces. Both of these pieces havent been used in the house for a while. We selected them as examples of what mrs. Kennedy was doing at the time. Theyre in our gallery right now. When she finished with the room she installed this silk fabric on the walls with her federal collection and a proper period style rug. Theres the Angelica Van Buren portrait she cited in the tour. Theres also this great portrait of Benjamin Franklin which is over the fireplace. She moved mrs. Van buren just past the chandelier on the left. The green room in the Nixon Administration. It was decided the federal furniture of mrs. Kennedys time was not the strongest pieces for rooms with very high ceilings and large scale. So it was replaced with furniture made by the new york workshop of duncan and fife. These wonderful chairs you see in the upper right, she acquired a set of four of those. They were perfect to be added to the collection. Also, in contrast that very great fife style in the upper right and the simple chair at the lower left, this is a curators delight. It was inscribed by the upholsterer. Most furniture doesnt get that much information. Then the green room as you see it today, this is the third set of changes since mrs. Kennedys time. Still her fabric has survived. Its been replaced, but considered a key element of the room. The nixon era furniture has been kept. We made a new rug and new fabrics. Mrs. Kennedy was interested in improving the Art Collection beyond the portraits and what you see in this picture, the lower left painting, was acquired for mrs. Laura bush. Its a 1947 painting called the builders. She wanted it in the public rooms just as mrs. Kennedy thought things should be added to the public rooms. It was decided to put it in the green room. We had to decide we dont own a lot of abstract art. Mrs. Kennedy was looking for things that were early american. The interest is growing. What we actually were able to pair with it is the painting of the lower right. It was a mrs. Kennedy acquisition. She had it upstairs, but it was more abstract and interesting as a pair for the builders. On the far left of the green room scene is a wonderful painting called the mosquito net. This was a gift in memory of mrs. Kennedy. I think she would have been pleased so many great paintings were donated in honor of mrs. Kennedys contribution to the white house. The lincoln bedroom, carpet was installed in the truman renovation. The period wasnt period. The mantle wasnt period. It was still an interesting room. The lower right evolved. Didnt change much in the early 2000s. It was still the 1952 carpet on the floor after 50 years of use. The furniture, the lincoln bed, the wonderful center table. This is one where in 2004 First Lady Laura Bush said could we refresh this room and go back to the period documents and do it as right as we can. I think mrs. Kennedy would have found that enormously gratifying. You heard her cite using historic documents to put things in their original places and design things correctly. Its a little more victorian than it was then. You see now the lincoln bed