The White House

George Sullivan. How the White House Really Works. Scholastic, 1989
0590434039 From School Library Journal Grade 6-10-- In this inside look at the White House, Sullivan provides both contemporary information, describing how to visit and call the White House, and historical perspective, describing how the staff, functions, and appearance of the White House have changed over the years. The various operations are covered in separate chapters, with each explaining a topic such as staff, correspondence, official functions, recreational facilities, and security. Sullivan does a very good job of showing young readers how the White House is many things at once: a home, a place to entertain official visitors, the executive office, and a museum, and how all of these are coordinated by a large and capable staff. Anecdotes about how the Presidents and their families have used the White House and some of the changes they have made add interest. Photos show some of the facilities in the White House as well as various Presidents and staff members. Both informative and entertaining, this book provides more background and inside information than the numerous editions of The White House Historical Association's The White House , and is a good companion to titles such as The Last Cow on the White House Lawn: and Other Little Known Facts About the Presidency (Doubleday, 1978; o.p.) by Barbara Seuling. It would be a good addition to libraries needing information about one of our nation's treasures. --Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, Mo. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Product Description The White House receives about 80,000 phone calls in one day. It has its own movie theatre and bowling alley. More than 1,000 pieces of china, glassware, and flatware must be hand-washed for a state dinner. These are just a few of the fascinating facts included in this behind-the-scenes look at the White House..

Paperback, Very Good

Details

Buckland, Gail: THE WHITE HOUSE IN MINIATURE: BASED ON THE WHITE HOUSE REPLICA BY JOHN, JAN, AND THE ZWEIFEL FAMILY, New York W. W. Norton & Company 1994
0393036634 Brand New

What does it take to spend more than three decades on a model of the White House? For the Zweifel family along with hundreds of volunteers, the expenditure of a half million hours was more than a patriotic mission. This book also tells the story of the maneuvering and perseverance necessary to obtain the permissions and money necessary to reproduce the inside and outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with absolute precision and fidelity. Color photographs of more than 30 well-known White House rooms, from the Oval Office to Lincoln's bedroom, capture the details of craftsmanship. The text explains not only the historical background of each room, but also the feats and talent required to build miniatures. Barbara Jacobs From Kirkus Reviews: No doubt about it--this book, which presents (with infinite care) the miniature White House constructed by John and Jan Zweifel (with more than infinite care), is astonishing. The miniature White House, built on a one-foot-to-one-inch scale, is beyond astonishing, replicating each room of the real White House down to floral arrangements, dining services, and, when possible, hand carvings on table legs. Kathleen Culbert-Aguilar's photographs (accompanied by Cooper Union professor Buckland's text) seem designed to accomplish two things: first, to allow us access to places, like the Reagans' bedroom, not included in the normal White House tour; second, to make us wonder at the craftsmanship of the replica. This she does by means of clever interventions like putting a real poker hand (a full house) in the model Green Room. The persistence of the Zweifels, who first got the Kennedy administration interested in the project but weren't allowed into the White House to take the necessary measurements and pictures until the Ford administration (Gerald Ford and his wife contribute the foreword), is boggling. But isn't this fetishistic reverence for executive wallpaper also a bit perverse? What does it mean that we want to banish the presidency to Lilliput? And how come there aren't any toilets? - Hardcover 8- 1/2 x 11" Shirnk-Wrapped By Publisher

[SW: UNITED STATES HISTORY, MINIATURE, WASHINGTON, FORD, REPLICATE]

Details

Kessler, Ronald: Inside the White House, New York, NY Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group 1995
0-671-87920-0 As New Condition

Ronald Kessler focuses on the most myth-laden and clandestine institution of them all: the modern White House. From the hidden lives of the Presidents and first families to the intricate inner workings of this all-powerful institution, Kessler peels away the White House facade to reveal the fascinating and often scandalous reality behind the stately illusion. Kessler gained unprecedented access to Secret Service agents, domestic servants, Air force One stewards, military aides, chefs, and ushers. And the revelations are sensational. Kessler also reports on the outrageous costs of running the White House; the petty and wasteful turf wars among civil servants; the scandals involving White House chefs, barbers, and Secret Service agents; the spoiled excesses of presidential children; and much more. Publishers Weekly In this tabloid-sounding account, Kessler (The FBI) has aimed very low, armed with ''inside information'' provided by presidential aides, servants, staff members and Secret Service agents that has the ring of backstairs gossip. He shows Lyndon Johnson as a vulgar megalomaniac, Nixon as almost pathologically shut in, Carter as a petty nitpicker, Reagan as dominated by his icy wife, Bush as barely able to tolerate people en masse and Clinton as such a compulsive womanizer as to make Jack Kennedy seem celibate. From the chief executive on down, virtually everyone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he concludes, falls victim to ''presidentitis'' and abuses power. The only question left unanswered is, what's new here? (Feb.) Library Journal The secrets of the presidency disclosed by Kessler (The FBI, LJ 10/15/93) have been revealed before. "White House-itis" is the arrogance that comes from being surrounded by aides eager to please and from the trappings of power unique to the presidency. The White House provides the luxury of a "132-room four-star hotel." The presidential assistants, secret agents, maids, and butlers are the ones who really know what is going on, and these are the people that Kessler interviews. Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter are faulted for their meanness and contempt for their staffs; Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan are remembered for their kindness. President Clinton is skewered for his lack of character and discipline and the immaturity of his advisers. Kessler raises other important issues in this recommended expos, which will find a large audience in public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/94.]-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa. BookList The delver into the federal city's loci of power (e.g., "Inside the FBI" ) will parcel out trivia and occasional substance about recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The first half of the text covers philandering, stealing, and drinking during the reigns from LBJ to Bush; the second half details the flaps that have discombobulated the present tenants. Kessler has filled a grab bag of gab from aides, maids, barbers, guards, Secret Service agents, and Air Force One stewards, but some of their revelations bear a serious hearing, such as the1 "billion" annual cost of operating the White House. However, Kessler's sharpest criticism is not financial; he hits Clinton in familiar areas of vulnerability, i.e., his staff's juvenile arrogance and ineptitude, "travelgate," "troopergate," and an encore of the Gennifer Flowers allegations of assignations. (This book contains her third set of public statements, following a press conference and "Penthouse" spread, about her alleged trysts with Clinton.) Because this report seems accurate and few of Kessler's sources hide behind anonymity, it should garner high but ephemeral interest, boosted by a scheduled ABC "20/20" program in January that will "break" his stories. Synopsis Ronald Kessler focuses on the most myth-laden and clandestine institution of them all: the modern White House. From the hidden lives of the Presidents and first families to the intricate inner workings of this all-powerful institution, Kessler peels away the White House facade to revea Hardcover 24 cm.

[SW: Presidents -- United States -- History -- 20th, century, White House (Washington, D.C, Washington (D.C, 1951-]

Details

Monkman, Betty C. THE WHITE HOUSE: ITS HISTORIC FURNISHINGS AND FIRST FAMILIES, Washington, D.C. Abbeville Press 2000
ISBN: 0-7892-0624-2 As New Condition

Publication of this well-written, beautifully photographed book coincides with the 200th anniversary of White House occupancy. Monkman, the White House curator, documents the furnishings and decorative objects as well as the metamorphoses of White House interiors <P> . The impact of the presidents and first ladies is particularly intriguing. Monkman traces the house's history from its humble beginningsDJohn and Abigail Adams moved in to a partially finished building in November 1800Dthrough its sacking during the Madison administration to Jacqueline Kennedy's impressive efforts to keep the history of the house alive. Her work led to the institutionalization of the White House as a museum, which the American Museum Association accredited in 1988. The back of the book features a catalog of the illustrated objects. This important work is highly recommended for any collection. <P> For 200 years the White House has served as the residence of our nation's president and his family. John and Abigail Adams were the first residents, and each family ever since has been able to make the White House a comfortable home and to acquire the necessities for handsomely carrying out its additional functions as nexus for state ceremenoy and entertaining. In captivating detail, this volume--produced in association with the White House Historical Association--reveals how the decoration of the White House has reflected the personal style of our first families and their countless forays into redecorating. <P> Illustrated largely with photographs especially commissioned for this book, as well as historic pictures, The White House focuses on some of our nation's most important heirlooms, including furniture, silver, glass, porcelain, and textiles. Enlivened with stories about the first families and how their furnishings often clashed with the politics of the time, this book is an ideal gift for those interested in the decorative arts, biography, and history. Hardcover 10 x 13" OVERSIZE

[SW: Furniture -- Washington (D.C.) -- History, White House (Washington, D.C.) -- History]

Details