George H W Bush - House of Cards US TV - John Adams - The Washington Times - It’s Good to be the President TV - Brad Meltzer’s Decoded TV - America’s Book of Secrets TV - The President’s Book of Secrets TV - H L Mencken - Jesse Owens - John F Kennedy - William Tecumseh Sherman - Harry S Truman - Grover Cleveland - Robin Williams - Barbara Bush - Richard M Nixon - Joe Biden - David Letterman - J B West - Lillian Rogers Parks - George W Bush - John Todd - Obama’s White House TV - The Comic Strip Presents TV - Sacha Baron Cohen: Who is America? TV - Secret History of the White House TV -
The day will come – and it is not far off – when the legacy of Lincoln will finally be fulfilled at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when a black man or woman will sit in the Oval Office. When that day comes, the most remarkable thing about it will be how naturally it occurs. George H W Bush
You’re right, I’m still white trash. I just happen to be white trash that lives in the White House. House of Cards s4e1: Chapter 40, Frank to Claire’s mom, Netflix 2016
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof. John Adams
Homosexual prostitution inquiry ensnares VIP with Reagan, Bush: ‘Call boys’ took midnight tour of White House. The Washington Times 29th June 1989 re Franklin Affair
You will command the most devastating military force history has ever known. Live in a mansion. Travel in style. And be served and protected by a million dollar entourage. But would you really want this job? Everyone wants something from you. Everyone has an agenda. Your time is no longer your own. Even your house belongs to the people. It’s Good to be the President, 2011
George W Bush woke up at 5.30 a.m. every day; Bill Clinton went for a morning jog; Harry Truman took a shot of Bourbon before breakfast; Reagan enjoyed a light read before getting down to the news. ibid.
But the staff of the West Wing are a very recent addition to the office of the Presidency. ibid.
Thomas Jefferson had to pay for a White House secretary and messenger out of his own pocket. ibid.
Presidents come and go but butlers stay. ibid.
Each incumbent learns very quickly that being president means never being alone. ibid.
In fact in the last thirty years White House security has been breached at least ninety-one times. ibid.
Camp David – this rustic presidential retreat only a thirty minute helicopter ride away from Washington is so well hidden that it doesn’t even appear on local maps. ibid.
Harry Truman liked to go out on strolls, to buy newspapers, walk the dog, deposit cheques at the local bank. ibid.
The cornerstone of our democracy is actually missing. In 1792 stonemasons laid the cornerstone for the White House ... The day after it’s placed the stone vanishes. Brad Meltzer’s Decoded s1e1: White House, History 2010
It is home to the most powerful person in the world. It is a centre of global military power. And it is one of the most heavily protected fortresses ever built. But behind the classic columns and lush green lawns are secrets, secrets so outrageous, so controversial, so dangerous, that they must be kept hidden from the public. America’s Book of Secrets s1e2: White House, History 2012
Nearly 1,700 employees. ibid.
Nixon didn’t want the public to know he was seeing Elvis. ibid.
‘The President’s daily brief has the most sensitive information available.’ ibid.
Six days a week the President of the United States chairs the national security session where he is briefed on all of the intelligence issues that threaten the United States. The President’s Book of Secrets, History 2010
Today the Situation Room functions as the president’s global information and response centre. ibid.
When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental – men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost ... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre – the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H L Mencken
Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either. Jesse Owens
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. John F Kennedy
If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you. William Tecumseh Sherman
The White House is the finest prison in the world. Harry S Truman
Sometimes I wake at night in the White House and rub my eyes and wonder if it is not all a dream. Grover Cleveland
People say satire is dead. It’s not dead; it’s alive and living in the White House. Robin Williams
Somewhere out in this audience may even by someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president's spouse. I wish him well. Barbara Bush
The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen at that moment: the red carpet, the green lawn, the White House, the leaden sky. The new president and his first lady. Richard Nixon
We must maintain the integrity of the White House. And that integrity must be real, not transparent. There can be no whitewash at the White House. Richard Nixon, address 30th April 1973
The White House isn’t the place to learn how to deal with international crises, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation. Joe Biden
The White House is giving George W Bush intelligence briefings. You know, some of these jokes just write themselves. David Letterman
The White House never celebrated the change of seasons so heartily as it did under Mrs Eisenhower. For St Patrick’s Day, she twined the columns with green ribbons and top hats, with shamrocks hanging from the chandeliers, leprechauns in the State Dining Room and green carnations and bells-of-Ireland in the flower bowls. At Eastertime there were butterflies hanging from the chandeliers, artificial birds singing with tape-recorded voices, (‘Would you please shut off the birds?’ Mrs Eisenhower said to the butler), Easter bunnies hatching from pale blue shells on the mantel, ropes of cherry blossoms climbing the marble columns, and masses of fresh spring flowers throughout the White House. J B West, chief usher, Upstairs at the White House
All the social functions were discontinued at the White House [during World War I], and Mrs Wilson inaugurated meatless days, heatless days, Sunday gasless days meaning no Sunday pleasure drives and she spent many hours before her sewing machine making pyjamas for the soldiers in the hospital wards, to be distributed by the Red Cross. Conservation was the by-word around the White House; eight sheep were soon gracing the lawns. Lillian Rogers Parks, maid and seamstress, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
We’re concerned about AIDS inside our White House – make no mistake about it. George W Bush
I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office. George W Bush, Washington 12th May 2008
It is at the Council on Foreign Relations where decisions are made about who is going to be placed in the White House. John Todd
The President’s photographer is almost always around ... One of three photographers at the White House. Obama’s White House, BBC 2016
In an average week the President’s camera time will take up to twenty thousand shots. ibid.