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First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy stands on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral with her two young children by her side, as John F. Kennedy, Jr. salutes his father’s casket. She wears a long veil over her face. The choice of a veil was unusual; by 1963, mourning veils had fallen completely out of fashion. Like the mourning drapery she rein
This film was taken of Eleanor Roosevelt at the Hyde Park funeral of her husband. She wears a mourning veil attached to her hat, but unlike Florence Harding, she never wore it over her face during the funeral.
Famous composer and head of the Marine Band John Philip Sousa was shocked by President Garfield’s death: “With the event weighing heavily on his mind he walked all through the night and into the next morning. When he returned home he immediately committed the dirge ‘In Memoriam’ to paper.” The U.S. Marine Band played the march as the president’
Martha Washington’s worst memory was the death of her husband. Her second worst was Thomas Jefferson’s awkward visit to pay his respects afterwards. Indeed, by the time George Washington died in 1799, the two founders were estranged, but for most of their thirty-year acquaintance they enjoyed a productive relationship. Professor Frank Cogliano will discuss his new book, A Revolutionary Frie
The White House Historical Association's 2024 series White House History with Margaret Brennan will feature several conversations dealing with various topics about diplomacy and the White House. The second event will take place on June 26, 2024, and will explore “The President Abroad." The panel will converse about presidential travel, how government agencies and departments work to coordinate and plan diplomatic events, and th
Author James Kirchick joins the program to discuss his New York Times Bestseller, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives, Kirchick illuminates how homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration through the end of the twentieth century against the
Dr. Sarah J. Purcell joins us to discuss her book Spectacle of Grief: Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era which examines how funerals of major figures from that era allowed a diverse set of people to contribute to changing American national identities. Purcell will also discuss how mourning rituals for figures like Col. Elmer Ellsworth, whose White
More than 70% of Jewish Americans take part in the Passover Seder, making Passover the most celebrated of Jewish holidays. Since 2009, the White House has joined in celebrating Passover in various ways. Rubenstein Center Research Fellow Dr. Phillip Lieberman will discuss this tradition, as well as the ebb and flow of presidential participation in the Jewish Feast of Freedom.