While it’s easy to imagine all sorts of secret tunnels and passageways around the White House and its famed Executive Residence (the central building of the complex where the president and their family live), in reality, the building plan is quite straightforward.
However, every president has brought their unique flair to the Residence, implementing items to give the place a personal touch. From breweries in the basement to jellybeans on the conference tables, and a mechanical horse in the bedroom, discover some of the quirkiest secrets and unusual stories from inside the White House.
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There was once a White House secret passage, which was built immediately following the Pearl Harbour attacks in 1941. President Roosevelt had declined the Civil Defence’s pleas that he move somewhere more secure than the White House, but did concede to the construction of a bomb shelter.
The shelter was really just the basement of the Treasury Building, which could be accessed through the East Wing of the White House by means of a small, secret tunnel, which was abandoned early in the war.
Ronald Reagan was a well-known jellybean addict – Jelly Bellys, to be precise – and while he never ordered the kitchens to whip up their own recipe, the White House ordered 720 bags of Jelly Bellys per month.
Reagan also kept a private stash in the Oval Office, and often had a supply to hand on meeting tables, as pictured here. He even served 40 million red (Very Cherry), white (Coconut), and blue (Blueberry – especially created for the occasion) Jelly Belly beans at his inauguration in 1891. That equated to three and a half tons!
Everyone knows the president’s job is a stressful one, and what better way to relax than with a good hot shower? Well, Lyndon B. Johnson was notoriously a bit of a stickler when it came to his water pressure, and reportedly requested that the shower head in his bathroom in the Residence be adjusted multiple times during his occupancy.
In fact, it apparently became something of a running joke in the office, with staffers associating his mood and even his decisions with whether or not his shower had been satisfactory.
Believe it or not, this curious museum exhibit displays the original electric horse, which Calvin Coolidge kept in the Residence during his time in office. He would ride it up to three times a day for exercise and stress relief.
The hobby horse resided in the President’s dressing room and was actually designed by breakfast cereal tycoon and health fanatic John Harvey Kellogg. Nicknamed Thunderbolt, the horse’s time at the White House was short-lived after it became a source of derision for the President.
While a slightly better-known historical oddity today, it was a well-kept secret during Reagan’s time in office that his wife, Nancy, was deeply interested in astrology. So much so that she would even send the presidential schedule off to her astrologer, Joan Quigley, for advice.
Quigley later claimed to have held sway over many of the President’s decisions, including his softened stance towards the Soviet Union. Apparently, we should all be grateful that a new moon was in Libra during the Reykjavík Summit!
Last-minute Valentine's Day crisis? Sorted without ever leaving the property. The White House harbours both a chocolate shop and a flower shop in the basement, staffed by artisans who are more than happy to whip you up a lustrous bouquet or a last-minute box of candy.
Pictured here, Nancy Reagan performs a final check on the desserts for upcoming White House Christmas parties in the chocolate shop – maybe her astrologer foresaw a cocoa catastrophe…
While Jackie Kennedy famously opened the White House doors to the masses in a historic televised tour after her labour-intensive real renovation, she was reportedly a bit less welcoming when it came to overnight guests.
Apparently, Jackie once staged a ‘fake’ renovation in one of the rooms of the Residence to avoid having to host someone hoping to crash after an event. The fiendish first lady placed a ladder and some paint cans in the room in question and draped the furniture with blankets to make it look out of commission. Genius!
Barack Obama was a famed beer drinker even before his election in 2008. However, with craft beer on the rise in popularity during his presidency, Obama even went so far as to set up his own brewery in the First Kitchen, buying the home brewing equipment himself, and collaborating with the White House chef to create his own line of craft ales made with honey from a beehive on the South Lawn.
He’s pictured here sharing his brews with local firemen on the campaign trail in 2012… a brilliant campaign strategy in our book.
While residency in the White House may seem like a pretty cushy job perk for the president, not everything is free. In fact, the president and the first family pay for their own food, accumulating a ‘tab’ a bit like you would in a country club.
While there is a small stipend set aside by Congress for certain food and drink items around the house, everything else is tabulated into a bill sent to the family at the end of each month. Maybe that’s why Gerald Ford looks so cranky about his breakfast.
Following his election, President Taft enjoyed an unusual victory banquet in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. When asked if he had any special requests for the event, Taft expressed his wish to try “possums and taters”.
The result was the opulent possum dinner of 1909, pictured here, during which 100 fat possums were served to the President-Elect. William Howard Taft went on to serve possum with potatoes stuffed in their mouths at his Thanksgiving table during his tenure in the White House. Taxpayers were likely grateful they weren’t financing that particular feast…
While there have been countless reports of ghostly apparitions in the White House over the years, Mary Todd Lincoln actually invited them in. Having suffered tremendous losses during her life, Mrs. Lincoln first turned to spiritualism to process the death of her 11-year-old son, Willie, who passed away during Lincoln’s presidency.
She even went so far as to invite well-known local mediums, the Lauries, to the White House to conduct séances in the Red Room, hoping to reconnect with her deceased son.
The 1939 royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth marked an important moment in diplomatic history: the first time a British monarch had ever visited an American president ‘at home’. Home being the Roosevelts’ Hyde Park ‘cottage’ rather than the Residence.
Much to the horror of FDR's mother, Sara, Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to go all-American for the occasion, serving the visiting royals a feast of hot dogs during a casual picnic on the grounds. According to the New York Times headline following the event, the King tried a hot dog and asked for more.
While the White House and Residence are both rife with stories of ghostly apparitions, perhaps the most commonly cited is that of Abraham Lincoln’s ghost, who has apparently been haunting the halls for hundreds of years.
He reportedly regularly appears in both the Yellow Oval Room and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Lincoln bedroom, pictured here. First Lady Grace Coolidge and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands both claim to have seen him hanging around…
Of course, there have been countless other ghost stories and sightings. The ghost of Lincoln’s son, Willie, supposedly roams the halls, and Mary Todd Lincoln also reported hearing Andrew Jackson’s ghost stomping and swearing up and down the corridors.
Thomas Jefferson supposedly plays his violin in the Yellow Oval Room, William Henry Harrison – the first president to die actually in the White House – haunts the attic, and Abigail Adams still hangs laundry in the East Room. Someone should tell her she can take a break…
Surely prom night holds enough social pressures without having to pass muster at the White House? Well, in May 1975, First Daughter Susan Ford hosted the Holton-Arms School senior class for prom at the Executive Mansion, the first and only time such an event took place there.
The class had been fundraising for the big night since the seventh grade, but managed to save a fortune on event rental space thanks to Dad’s digs. However, attendees reportedly still paid $14 for tickets, that's the equivalent of $84 today.
The White House has played host to a wide variety of unusual pets over the years, from an alligator to a raccoon and a hippopotamus, but perhaps our favourite was President Benjamin Harrison’s pet goat, Old Whiskers.
Harrison gave the goat to his grandchildren, who can be seen here with the President on the White House lawn, enjoying a cart ride courtesy of the quirky quadruped. Apparently, Old Whiskers bolted towards the White House gates shortly after this photo was taken, with the President in hot pursuit.
More shenanigans on the grounds can be seen here, as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s grandchildren enjoy a playground erected for them on the South Lawn in 1933. Roosevelt was not the only president to make accommodations for children and grandchildren around the White House, although in many instances, White House kids learned to make their own fun.
Jenna and Barbara Bush famously taught Sasha and Malia Obama how to slide down the Residence bannisters during the Obamas' orientation.
While it’s easy to imagine every meal in the White House Residence being served on fine china and silver, presidents are people, too! Sometimes all you want is a relaxing TV dinner, like the one the Reagans can be seen enjoying here.
Ok, the meals are still being served on silver trays, but the whole atmosphere in this photo is a bit more relaxed and family-oriented than we’re used to imagining presidents get to be, even during downtime at home.
Bill Clinton found he preferred to blow off steam by playing his saxophone in the newly refurbished White House music room. The President can be seen here crooning away, clearly enjoying some time to himself out of his busy schedule.
The White House has been home to several music rooms over the centuries, including what is today the Green Room, following the interests of the first family in residence.
While the White House is certainly home to many ghost stories, these skeletons are being carefully curated by First Lady Betty Ford and her Social Secretary Nancy Howe in the president’s private study.
The setup was being arranged in honour of Halloween, which the Ford family took quite seriously during their time at the White House. Other first families took the celebrations even further, with the Clintons throwing a full-on costume party, and more recent incumbents decorated the South Portico and welcomed trick-or-treaters!
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