ourselves as well. and during the christmas season, i think most americans do feel a greater sense of family, friendship, giving, and joy. >> the evergreen tree reminds us that even in the coldest, darkest days of winter, that life and abundance will return. >> through the years, and through the eyes of first families. >> my grandmother decided in the mid-1920s that she was going to make christmas the biggest deal ever. >> my mother, i think, said it best when she said, you know, every day in the white house is a gift to my life. but never more so than at christmas. and i share that sentiment. >> in this hour, family, festivities, faith, and the work of the presidency, which doesn't stop any day of the year. ♪♪ >> announcer: the following program is brought to you in living color on nbc. >> hello, and welcome to fireside history. i'm michael. in this episode, a little white house holiday magic, presidential historian style, with help from the nbc news archives. the hope for all of us in public life and private is that the winter holidays are times of unity and peace. but of course, history shows us that that is not always the case. in 1941, christmas came just a few weeks after the united states was attacked at pearl harbor. president franklin roosevelt hosted british prime minister winston churchill in washington. wartime security was tight, and the lights on the building were turned down. both men had received death threats, but they kept up tradition and lit the national christmas tree from the south portico of the white house. afterwards, fdr and churchill addressed their nations and the world, balancing the reality of war and christmas wishes. >> there is another preparation demanded of this nation beyond and beside the preparation of weapons and materials of war. there is demanded also of us the preparation of our hearts, the arming of our hearts. when we make ready our hearts for the labor and the suffering and the ultimate victory which lie ahead, then we observe christmas day with all of its memories and all of its meaning as we should. >> we may cast aside, for this night at least, the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storms. >> president roosevelt's last christmas as commander in chief came in 1944. he had just been re-elected to a fourth term, and with the war ending, he spoke on radio from his house at hyde park, new york. >> it is not easy to say merry christmas to you, my fellow americans, in this time of destructive war, nor can i say merry christmas lightly tonight to our armed forces at their battle stations all over the world. or to our allies who fight by their side. >> roosevelt felt the presidential weight and personal sacrifice of war. as the family gathered for the holiday, he had four sons in military service. first lady eleanor roosevelt said, "i hope next year, we'll all be home." but even at that time, fdr was secretly very ill and he died a few months after the family holiday. harry truman suddenly became president after fdr died in april 1945 and he had to deal with ending world war ii around the globe, many problems in the aftermath of war and at the same time a crisis in his marriage. bess truman had been accustomed to being very much involved in what her husband was doing as a senator from missouri, but the second he became president, he had to read up on what a president should do and look at intelligence documents to the point that he felt that he didn't have very much time to explain to his wife what he was doing. and she was so furious at christmastime after months of this that she went back to their home in independence, missouri, and left him in the white house. truman decided to try a reconciliation by coming to independence on christmas day, 1945. he shows up at the truman house with an armful of presents. mrs. truman opens the door and glares at him. truman wrote to bess later on about how hurt he had felt that after he finally had come home for christmas, she had looked at him like something that the cat dragged in. truman not only had to deal with the most grave questions of war and peace and atomic weapons with the end of world war ii and a sudden presidency, he also had to deal with his mother-in-law. his mother-in-law was someone who felt that her daughter, bess, had married way beneath her social station and the fact that harry was president did not change her very much at all, and so you would have this scene at christmas where the elder mrs. wallace, the mother-in-law, would sit down at the table with the president nearby, and she detested harry truman so much that she would barely condescend to look in his direction. and the scene took place year after year at christmastime. christmastime 1963 found a grieving nation. one of the country's most profound losses had come just weeks before in november 1963 when president john f. kennedy was shot and killed in dallas. in previous years, the kennedy family had shared cheerful images of their holidays, like this one from palm beach in 1962. but in a melancholy piece of white house planning, month before john f. kennedy and jackie kennedy went to texas on that tragic day, they had already chosen the gifts they would give and their christmas cards had already been printed, but instead of another kennedy christmas, the duties of the presidency would fall to lyndon baines johnson, who had recently been sworn in as 36th president of the united states. taking over after the assassination of president kennedy. one month after the assassination, president johnson spoke at a memorial candlelight ceremony at the lincoln memorial honoring jfk. >> 30 days and a few hours ago, john fitzgerald kennedy, 35th president of the united states, died a martyr's death. the world will not forget what he did here. he will live on in our hearts, which will be his shrine. >> later that same day, johnson lit the national christmas tree. it was a moment of tradition and a moment of sadness all in one presidential day. lbj's daughter, lucy johnson. >> it was a time where the nation was consumed with grief of losing a vital and vibrant, very attractive and delightful president and his beautiful wife and precious children. so, not only did our family mourn, but the nation's family mourned, and then all of a sudden, on december 22nd, after a month of mourning, the veil came down. and christmas came up. the juxtaposition of the two, there really wasn't any interlude for everyday living. it was from pain and suffering that seemed to last forever to hope and promise and peace that was on the horizon. >> the news of the nation always breaks into the holidays. that was true for president jimmy carter, who remembered the hostages in iran at christmas. >> to see almost 4,000 lights explode on that 30-foot-high blue spruce is indeed a wonderment. this was the scene two christmases ago when president carter, his wife and daughter, did the lighting. so, when the crowd gathered on the ellipse last christmas, it was anticipating another spectacle. this was what happened in '79. >> i want to tell you what just happened. we will turn on the other lights on the tree when the american hostages come home. >> it was indeed a dramatic gesture, but as the months rolled on without any hostage release, washington wondered whether jimmy carter had again promised too much. as christmas 1980 approached, the city began to speculate on whether president carter would break his christmas tree promise or try to step around it. after all, a new and reportedly encouraging message was on its way from iran. this is what happened tonight. >> i'm going to ask this christmas, not amy, but my oldest grandson, jason, to throw the switch and light the tree. we all will continue to pray that we can turn the rest of the lights on when our hostages come home. good-bye. thank you very much. >> presidential messages around the holidays tend to focus on universal themes of the time. war, national security, peace, and prosperity, but occasionally, it's the way the message is delivered that makes news. >> with the weight of 8,800 pounds, the atlas is by far the biggest satellite, more than double the mass of russia's sputnik iii. but impressive as is the feat of the atlas itself and the awesome accuracy of its guidance system, all else is overshadowed by the amazing communication system it carried aloft. ♪♪ >> the atlas can receive messages from earth, record them, and rebroadcast them on a command signal from the ground. said the president, through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. >> this is the president of the united states speaking. >> ike's granddaughter, susan eisenhower, gave us some first family insight on this remarkable moment. >> the back story is fascinating because the pentagon was going to launch this satellite and i can't call at this time pentagon. it was whoever was in charge of that, but the point is, is that somebody from the military was going to offer a greeting, and when the president found out, he said, no. no, i'm going to use this opportunity, and he did, to wish for, during this religious season, to wish for peace on earth. >> and the next year, another history-making eisenhower december. >> he chose, out of three round-the-world trips just after the advent of the jets, that would make trips like this possible, he chose to go over the christmas season. and so, he went to turkey, pakistan, italy, afghanistan, india, iran, greece, tunisia, france, spain, and morocco. and after this three-week trip, he came back just before christmas. it was late at night. and as they arrived at the white house, lafayette park was full of people with candles burning, and that is how they started the christmas season of 1959. i think it only underscores the point that this christmas thing was a multidimensional thing that went on from the beginning of the season, and i remember well that return from around the world, and there was so much hope that was generated from it. when you think of the countries i just mentioned, i mean, this was obviously not an easy trip. >> very hard for him. >> very hard. especially -- i think he broke the altitude record. >> oh, i think -- >> flying -- yes, in a helicopter over the mountains in afghanistan. he was so determined to make this trip and to do it in a way that would signal to the rest of the world that america was coming as a friend and neighbor, and then of course, he ends the trip with, again, you know, best wishes for this season of -- with the hope of peace and i think it's very important to say that both of my grandparents were spiritual oriented. they were -- i wouldn't say that they had ever been that much associated with real organized religion until the presidential years, but you know, christmas was very meaningful. >> over time, the meaning of holidays at the white house has expanded to include other celebrations across america. president jimmy carter was the first to light a public menorah near the mall. in 1993, president bill clinton lit a small menorah in the oval office. during the george w. bush administration, a hanukkah celebration was added to the white house holiday schedule. the first menorah lighting in the executive residence was in december 2001 with george and laura bush. in 2007, the parents of slain reporter daniel pearl, a victim of terrorism, lit the menorah at the white house. the menorah had been in the pearl family for generations. >> the menorah we light tonight has special meaning. it once belonged to pearl, the great-grandfather of daniel pearl. daniel was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists. his only crime was being a jewish american. by honoring daniel, we are given the opportunity to bring forth hope from the darkness of tragedy, and that is a miracle worth celebrating during the festival of lights. >> and it was also the last time a first family has been separated by war. a first family has been separated by war welcome back to "fireside history." for our trip over the river and through the woods to the white house at the holidays. it's a chance for americans to see the first families do what we do, decorate, eat, spend time together, and invite special guests, albeit at the most famous address in the country. >> and what happens when you team up mrs. reagan and mr. t? you get the acouple, of course and that's what happened at the white house today. mr. t made a hearty but slightly menacing santa claus at the white house christmas press tour. >> who's been bad? all right. all right. you make sure you tell me. >> we don't know what mrs. reagan asked for, but mr. t got a little something extra from her. >> all right. oh, wow. now that will start some scandals. ♪♪ >> it takes a small army to decorate america's house. ♪♪ >> upstairs, an 18-foot balsam fir from wisconsin goes up in the blue room. >> that looks good there. >> downstairs, white house pastry chef and his staff have worked for weeks to build a castle made of gingerbread, chocolate and sugar. >> we do not news wood or carbohydrate to support the house. it's all food, all sweet. >> white house floral designer directs the troops as long-time volunteers join newcomers to get the job done. >> it's such a special house. >> it's just a great experience. >> i'm just awe struck. >> mrs. clinton invited new york designer robert isabel to create the theme, a winter wonderland. one of his mottos? it's not done until it's overdone. >> i'll keep doing until the first guest walks in. that's usually when it's done. >> an enormous wreath was carefully delivered to the east room, where it became the centerpiece. and cake artist colette peters made edible sculptures of sugar for the mantelpieces, whimsical, beautiful creations way too special to eat. the blue room tree was covered with 2,700 lights and over 2,000 handmade ornaments, 720 garlands, 344 wreaths were hung, 844 bows tied. slowly, surely it was transformed. white house staffers, designers, artisans from all over the country and hundreds of volunteers have been working since last january to deck these halls, and in the next few weeks, plenty of creatures will be stirring around here. an estimated 20,000 visitors are expected to walk through this winter wonderland. >> it's a fun time to work here, isn't it? >> it's great. it really is. because not only do we have all of this, we also invite in a lot of children's choirs and entertainment groups and every time they come through, they're just tickled to be here. >> now the holiday season officially begins. >> hello. how are you? don't you guys look great. hi, mrs. clinton. >> hi, katie, glad to see you. >> hi, katie. >> mr. president. >> how are you? >> fine, thank you. happy holidays. >> you are seeing the house before anybody else has seen it because we just finished it about 2:00 this afternoon, i think, the final touches were put on. so, we're delighted you could be here. >> it's a very glam look here at the white house this year. i mean, very gold, very silver, very glam, don't you think? >> they did a wonderful job. >> we wanted to do a winter wonderland and when you think of winter, you think of silver and white and crystal and there's so much gold in the house already, a little gold to tie it all together, and we had the best help. you know, the white house staff is just beyond description. they're so wonderful. >> are you all looking forward to the holidays? >> very much. >> yeah. >> chelsea will be home pretty soon and we always love it. >> do you have any big plans for the holidays? >> our idea of a big holiday is to go nowhere and do nothing, and i hope that's what we'll do again this year, where our family comes to us, and some of our friends as well, and we have a tree of our own up on the second floor of the white house that we always decorate ourselves and it takes a couple of days because you know, you have to stop and look at every ornament and remember where it came from, so that takes a while and then our family starts coming in and we've got two little nephews who are just fabulous and getting smarter and brighter every day and year. and so we just hang out, you know? we eat too much and hopefully sleep a little bit more to try to catch up on the year's deficit and just have a good time together. >> every first family brings its own rhythm and traditions to the white house. eisenhower granddaughter susan eisenhower. >> how important was christmas to your grandparents? >> christmas was extraordinarily important to my grandparents on a range of levels. first of all, they lost their first born son, dowd dwight, at the age of 3 over the christmas season and he was taken to the infirmary at fort meade with some kind of indescribable symptoms that weren't evident at first. that was the night before christmas, literally, and his little red tricycle had already been assembled. it was under the christmas tree. and when he got to the infirmary, they didn't let him out. they discovered that he had scarlet fever. he died on january 2nd, and so this whole christmas season for my grandparents was both heartbreaking, on the one hand, but my grandmother, who was never one to be slowed up by emotion to the point that she couldn't function, decided probably in the mid-1920s that she was going to make christmas the biggest deal ever. and this whole thing started in about october. she had a little secret room for wrapping presents, and the festivities went on after thanksgiving all the way through the holiday season. >> and would they ever talk about their child, the lost child, would they talk to you about him or would they not talk about him? >> they talked about this young boy but focused on his birthday rather than the period of his death. as a matter of fact, in my grandmother's later years, she would say, i can't remember the day he died. and of course she could, but she was unable to say good-bye to this little boy because she was ill herself. she had a respiratory infection and the doctors thought she was catching pneumonia and maybe even had some of this scarlet fever herself, so she was confined to her home, and you can imagine the tragedy of this loss, not to be able to say good-bye to your 3-year-old son. ike haunted the halls, to use his expression, of this infirmary, and i think actually in the end, broke their regulations and went in and gave the boy a hug before he died. it's a tragic story, but she was determined that christmas was going to be the time when none of those memories were front and center, and she used it to celebrate everybody, including, by the way, the white house staff, all of the secret service men and their children, and of course grandchildren got pretty much the same presents that all those other children did too. so, it was -- >> those were not bad presents. i remember one year your grandfather gave people in the household staff a pocket knife with his initials on it. have you seen that? >> well, and also, at win point, ike was an amateur painter, as you know, michael, and at one point, he decided to have copies of a number of figures that he so admired. they're still kind of collector's items. >> along with affairs of state, presidential gifts are always on the holiday season agenda. lucy johnson remembers her father's generosity. >> when he had this incredible round-the-world trip, several years later, in '67, so my father comes home after all of that, we're awakened at 4:00 in the morning, go down like little nutcrackers, little tin soldiers to the front door to greet him and fall in his arms and welcome him home. and you would have thought that practically any other mortal man would want to say, i can barely make it to my bed. i love you, merry christmas, i'm out of here for a while. but not lyndon johnson. he came home and said, now, did susie get a present? did mary get a present? how about john? what dress do we have for josephine? it was one of those -- he wanted to give, give, give, give something to everybody. who had made that time so very special, and my mother writes in her -- and i asked her, why did she think or how could she have thought that this year would be somehow different? because lyndon johnson just was in love with christmas. >> and wasn't he known for giving out presents like the electric toothbrushes with the presidential seal on them? >> oh my gosh. >> what kind of other things? >> well, my favorite little gift was a small -- like a swiss army knife. it was a little tiny, tiny one. it could not have done any damage to anybody. it was so small. and it was about as dangerous as a emery board. but it had a little toothpick in it, and it had a little presidential seal on, and he gave them to so many loved ones as a sign of appreciation. >> at some point, my parents very rightly understood that there was literally nothing we could give my grandparents for christmas that would mean enough to them to add it to all of the other keepsakes they had, and my grandmother kept everything. absolutely everything. could remember every gift "ever given" to her. so we started putting on christmas pageants at the white house and we used as the stage, that area between the family presidential living quarters and the back bedrooms of where you would find the lincoln bedroom and the queens bedroom. and this is a parquet floor that leads downstairs to the floor where the official events took place so that was our staging area, and we put up sheets and this and that, and then since i'm one of four, the eisenhowers only had four grandchildren, this is a pretty heavy job because we had to be sheep and cattle. we had to be mary and joseph. we had to be angels. we had to be everything because there were only four of us. so, my mother became a great, you know, producer and after they left the white house, these pageants continued over the christmas holiday, including young abe lincoln. we did that one year. we did the sound of music one year. that was pretty ambitious. >> the last christmas in 1960, can you remember your own feelings? were you sorry to be leaving? were you glad to be out of the spotlight soon? glad to get your family back? >> i don't think we really knew what it was to be out of the spotlight since i was born when my grandfather was supreme commander of nato forces in europe and because of that, he was always surrounded by people except for family events, of course. but my generation all had -- we all had secret service. we didn't really know what normal looked like, but when normal came, we were just fine with it. having said that, of course, we missed the secret service because in those days, the secret service were much more informal, and we really developed a tremendous bond with them and as a matter of fact, with many of them, we stayed in touch over the years, including their children, and how wonderful that is for us. we have kind of a large extended family still. >> the mixed emotions of a last white house christmas are truly understood by only a very few people. susan eisenhower's grandfather was just the 34th president of the united states. lucy johnson's father was the 36th. could you tell our viewers why were you spending that christmas in the white house and talk about the fact that your husbands were gone and lucinda had just been born. >> well, it was our last christmas as a part of a first family. and so, my father was attuned to the fact that as much as i think he really wanted to go home to the ranch and get the comforts of home, that the white house had become home to a lot of the rest of his family. and it was one of those -- lyndon johnson was an historian. he was a government major. and he could sense that being in that home on that last opportunity that we would ever have to be there was important. it probably helped that he was married to a history -- a woman with a history degree. >> right. >> and had a daughter who had a history degree. >> right. >> so that sense of history was profoundly important to all of our family, and i think he sensed it. and so, we stayed. our husbands were in vietnam. we were able to get a phone call through, and that was just unheard of at the time. today, our soldiers and sailors and airmen, they still have that great separation from their loved ones over the holidays, but their communication is much more timely, and we -- our communication was letters that would sometimes take several weeks to get there and reel-to-reel tapes or cassette tapes, so to have a phone call was just the greatest gift you could possibly have. and chuck and patrick got together and gave out christmas presents to poor children in an orphanage in vietnam, and it was also the last time a first family has been separated by war. >> right. >> so, it was very poignant -- a poignant time for us. >> i'll bet. and i have been looking at some of the pictures, you know, when you're all sitting in the yellow oval room upstairs, and i love lucinda. i love lyndon. but the star of those pictures is yuki. >> i found yuki on thanksgiving eve as a abandoned little puppy or little dog at a johnson city filling station, and the long and short of it is that my father identified with yuki very much. here he had been abandoned in a country filling station, to going from that bereaved situation to sleeping in the white house with the president of the united states. and he just -- he just loved that. >> presidential pets can give us a window into family life at the white house. and when they have their own production crew, they add a furry dimension to holiday cheer. >> but i've already given you an important job. your job is to take care of ms. beasley. ♪♪ >> of course the decorations were over the top. today, we make it an art form, and we get designers and professional decorators in, but mamie would have had none of that because she was the chief designer when it came to christmas. he was the chief designer when it came to christmas. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artists. designers and do-it-yourselfers. parents and friends. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. welcome back. if you think about your own favorite memories from the holidays, many of them probably involve food. at the white house, the holiday meals traditionally come with elaborate menus that i can tell you are irresistible for presidential historians. take a look at this one from 1889. blue point oysters on the half shell to start. then, turkey with cranberry jelly as the main course with ice cream for dessert. in 1941, when british prime minister winston churchill was fdr's guest of honor, oysters on the half shell were on the menu as well. that year, the turkey was served with chestnut dressing and giblet gravy. as long as there have been presidents, we have reported on what they eat. >> president reagan on christmas eve had no public schedule at all today. about 11:00 this morning, he did pose with his wife for this picture in front of the family christmas tree. at mid afternoon, he stuck his head in the briefing room to wish the press a merry christmas. christmas dinner tomorrow is at 5:30, turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans and a christmas ice cream log, chocolate on the outside, pistachio on the in. >> white house holiday sweet treats are not only designed to be tasty. in some cases, they are a celebration all on their own. there's an element of surprise for the kid in all of us involved with one very special baked good. ♪♪ >> the gingerbread house is almost the equivalent of a state secret. >> i can kind of smell what's going on when he's putting it together, but i like to be surprised as well. >> we have a snowman, snow lady, snow child. gender neutral snow people. >> there's always a gasp because we wouldn't see it until it was unveiled. sometimes we did sneak down the night before. often, we snuck down the night before to try to get a look, but they caught on because they used to lock the door to the dining room. >> it smells good. standing close. can you smell it? >> it's real. >> it was pat nixon who started the tradition in 1969. >> and that was a high point because who doesn't feel young at heart in the presence of a charming old-fashioned gingerbread house. >> her pastry chef made such an irresistible creation, even the president couldn't keep his hands off. >> when my parent saw it the first time, apparently he reached out to take a tiny little morsel toward the back and she said, don't you dare. >> nixon is hardly the only member of a first family unable to resist the temptation of the gingerbread house. >> you're supposed to eat it. >> first daughter amy carter was 9 years old when her family first experienced christmas in the white house. a kid in the ultimate candy store. >> i think i probably broke a piece off from the back. hopefully. >> why not? did you? >> no. but somebody did. >> somebody did. some unnamed child. >> the gingerbread houses are amazing, and they've gotten more amazing every year. >> so amazing, they are now more like high art than sweet treat. >> i'm really excited this year because we have developed this recipe for this special gingerbread dough, which looks like granite so we're going to have a very interesting look. >> i know he wanted to make some changes this year. the unveiling will come soon enough. >> this is our gingerbread house. >> oh my god. >> this white house looks kind of real. even includes chandeliers that light up. >> with the white house chef on hand every day, presidents can eat whatever they like, and they all have their favorites. president johnson certainly had his. >> what kind of food did he like to eat on christmas? >> oh, my father loved puddings. you heard a lot about the tapioca puddings but he loved puddings, he loved souffles, he loved sweets. he had a profound sweet tooth at night. mother tried desperately to curb as best she could. he enjoyed all the christmas trimmings, the turkey and the dressing and the sweet potato souffle and the -- just the -- just the joy of being focused on others. and of giving. >> white house decorations may be a little bit more over the top than they may be at your house, but the tree still has that all important role, the place for presents. >> the thing is, mamie had an uncanny way of kind of figuring out what people liked, but she had sort of zany tastes and i think a lot of people don't really fully realize that, but you might get bunny slippers. for kids, you'd understand it, but you know, she was a kick. and i think a lot of people didn't realize what a sense of humor she had. i remember always thinking that our presents were buried somewhere there under the tree with about 45 or 50 other gifts for, as i said, all of the kids who belonged to this larger, you know, official family. also there was a very big deal made about christmas cookies. and it's very funny about the visceral senses because i can go into the white house today and still smell the floor wax, and i don't think they still use the same cookie recipes, but for years, they did, and you could go in and smell the cookie recipe, and it would all come flooding back. >> and did your grandmother used to say to you, or convey to you, you know, when we celebrate christmas, we're also setting an example for the nation and little kids across the country will be seeing the way you pose in pictures, that kind of thing? >> well, we were so -- if it's okay to say this, we were really overtrained, i have to say. >> i thought that, but i thought i would ask. >> well, you know, we were -- we were getting that -- some versions of that message the whole time. and at christmas, of course, i mean, if you look at the little frocks we were wearing, we were quite dressed up. sometimes my sister and i were put in matching outfits. we'd go out of our way to make sure we're not even wearing the same color these days, but that was quite common, i think, in the 1950s, is to have -- yes, i think we were very aware of that. we had been trained long before about how to pose for pictures, in other words, not to get out in front, not be too pushy and not, et cetera, et cetera. i think i learned how to courtesy just before the queen elizabeth's visit to the united states in 1959. but as you well know, we played a minor role in averting a confrontation between the united states and the soviet union during krus krus chef's visit. michael, if i might, i would just add one other thing. where we really understood that we were kind of poster children in a way, was during these big inoculations in the 1950s for polio. i remember the gamma shots and we were always -- i mean, this could be verified, but i know at least in a couple of cases, we were the first family to be inoculated. not the last by any means. we're not waiting and seeing. but this family was going to, you know, stand up and lead the way. and this was -- otherwise, my parents felt very strongly that my grandfather's administration was his, and he wanted to make sure that aside from these appearances, especially over christmas and other things, that we did not start wearing, as he said, the boss's stars. >> and also, as we both know, and you especially, your father had a particular allergy to publicity for his growing children, which i always admired. >> certainly. he really did. as a matter of fact, he had a rule that unless my grandparents were in the pictures, we were not allowed to be photographed without them. so, there was no sort of puffing up this family as part of the narrative, only when it became important around things like vaccinations and when we were with our grandparents over the holidays, especially christmas, and i can't put too fine a point on the christmas thing because it was -- christmas was so overwhelming in the eisenhower household that all of us are still, to this day, a little afraid of having it without our grandmother. >> wow. >> who made it so special and so memorable and so much was invested in it that it's hard to replicate it on any level. she liked to share this just with -- not just with family but sometimes others who might be at loose ends, and again, that long table in the state dining room is a magnificent thing, and then of course, the decorations were over the top. today, we make it an art form, and we get designers and professional decorators in, but mamie would have had none of that, because she was the chief designer when it came to christmas, and this was all part of the big effort. >> and did your grandfather -- did he like it as much as she did? or was this something that she did that he was pleased but not quite as much? >> everything was an opportunity to have fun, to bring everybody together as a family, and to get my grandfather to relax and focus on, you know, the fun of being with family. and she did so much to lighten his load by just being a joy to be around. she had a wonderful sense of humor, and she knew her own mind. and so, holidays were what she did. >> how would you compare the way christmas is celebrated in the white house now to the way it was in the 1950s? >> well, it's always hard to say what goes on in the family quarters and how every family chooses to mark this day, but i would be hard pressed to imagine that anybody put the heart into it that mamie eisenhower did. first of all, it's an extremely important religious holiday, but add to that this tragedy in their lives, her focus on christmas was the way it was because she wanted to hold back what she might think of otherwise. i mean, that's my own amateur psychology on this, but there was so much that went into it. i'm not sure other people would think it was -- it made any sense to start so early and to be so emphatic about it, and to write christmas cards to the entire world and to respond to total strangers and others that just wrote into the white house. i mean, this was her real mission. >> every day in the white house is a gift to my life. but never more so than at christmas. but never more so tha christmas. as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ hi. so you're the scientist here. does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? it's true jen. this prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. impressive. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ new daily moisture for face. president bush sent a christmas message to all u.s. forces overseas but especially to those in what may become a war zone. >> when you come home and we hope it's soon, you'll be welcomed as what you are. all american heroes. today at the the white house, and all across america, candles burn in remembrance of you and all our troops across the country and around the world. >> welcome back to fireside history. it's the most solemn of presidential responsibilities. commander in chief, the power to send troops into dangerous situations far from home. george herbert walker bush understood that better than most, as a navy veteran of world war ii who had lost friends in combat. war was also ever present in the johnson white house. especially as lbj wound down his time in office. >> at the white house, christmas, 1968, meant nostalgia, hope, thankfulness. it was president johnson's last christmas in this house. although mr. johnson, like much of the nation, suffered a bout of the flu, he was home from the hospital in time for the presents to be opened. all his family except two sons-in-law were gathered. this year, more so than in the recent past, was ending on a note of hope. by christmas, the astronauts were heading safely home. north korea had finally freed the crew members of the pueblo, all contingents of the vietnam conflict had gathered in paris and the nations prospered as never before. shared the satisfaction in these blessings, but as always, his thoughts are on those far from home. standing vigil on the freedoms we cherish as he put it in his christmas message to servicemen around the world. >> this christmas with peace, when it comes, when hope turns to substance and the guns are quiet once again, it will come because you have pursued it with your courage and your skill. >> that was christmas 1968, the end of a difficult year for everyone. at the white house, the flip side of holiday joy will always be the weight of the office for the president and the first family. >> every day we had in the white house was an extraordinary gift in our lives, but never more so than at christmas. when we outwardly celebrated and made sure we expressed to each other and to the world just how much we meant to each other, just how much we cared, how much we hoped to leave the world a better place than we found it. if in any way, we could. lyndon johnson was acutely aware that all he had achieved was not because of his own capabilities. it was because he had people who loved him, who believed him, who had helped him and who mattered. christmas is for us, christmas eve at our grandmother's and then not long after came the presidency and then more christmas morning, time spent with loved ones. times spent giving out gifts, time watching my father play santa claus. because whether dressed up in the suit or not, he loved giving and it brought him so much more joy than getting and that was infectious. it was infectious. we loved watching it. we loved being a part of it. and i miss that. and i always will. but i'll be forever grateful to have had those times with a man for whom every day had some christmas in it. >> thanks for watching fireside history. we leave you now with a favorite holiday tradition from the white house to your house. >> twas the night before christmas, when all the through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. >> the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there. >> the children were nestled, all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums, danced in their heads. >> and mom in her kerchief, on a nap. >> i went to see what was the matter. >> away to the window, i flew like a flash. tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. >> the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of midday to objects below. >> when what to my wondering, eyes did appear. a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. >> so lively and quick, i knew in a moment, it must be st. nick. >> st. nick. >> more rapid than eagles whose courses they came and he whistled and shouted and called some by name. >> now dasher. now dancer. now prancer, and vixen. on comet, on cupid, on donner and blitzen. >> to the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now dasher way all. >> as leaves that before the wild hurricanes fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. >> so up to the house hop, the coursers they flew. with the sleigh full of toys and st. nicholas too. >> and then in a twinkling i heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof as i drew in my head and was turning around down the chimney st. nicholas came with a bound. >> he was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. >> a bundle of toys he had flung on his back. and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. >> his eyes, how they twinkled, his dimples how merry. his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. >> his droll little mouth drawn up like a bow and the chin of his beard like the snow. >> the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth. and a wreath. >> he had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. >> he was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf and i laughed when i saw it, in spite of myself. >> the wink of his eye, twist of his head, had nothing to dread. spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. >> and laying his finger aside of his nose and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. >> he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle. and away they all flew, like the down of a thistle. >> but i heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, merry christmas to all and to all a good night. >> tough words for zuckerberg on democracy and his words on artificial intelligence. it's worth reflecting on the big things, well, we're going to get with all of that but we begin with the biggest story in the world still. which is covid. 21

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