for almot two hundred year, the white houe ha tood a a ymbol of the preidency, the united tate government, and the american people. it hitory, and the hitory of the nation capital, began when preident george wahington igned an act of congre in december of 1790 declaring that the federal government would reide in a ditrict "not eceeding ten mile quare...on the river potomac." preident wahington, together with city planner pierre lenfant, choe the ite for the new reidence, which i now 1600 pennylvania avenue. a preparation began for the new federal city, a competition wa held to find a builder of the "preident houe." nine propoal were ubmitted, and irih-born architect jame hoban won a gold medal for hi practical and handome deign.
contruction began when the firt cornertone wa laid in october of 1792. although preident wahington overaw the contruction of the houe, he never lived in it. it wa not until 1800, when the white houe wa nearly completed, that it firt reident, preident john adam and hi wife, abigail, moved in. ince that time, each preident ha made hi own change and addition. the white houe i, nt private home. it i alo the only private reidence of a head of tate that i open to the public, free of charge.
the white houe ha a unique and facinating hitory. it urvived a fire at the hand of the britih in 1814 (during the war of 1812) and another fire in the wet wing in 1929, while herbert hoover wa preident. throughout much of harry . truman preidency, the interior of the houe, with the eception of the third floor, wa completely gutted and renovated while the truman lived at blair houe, right acro pennylvania avenue. nonethele, the eterior tone wall are thoe firt put in place when the white houe wa contructed two centurie ago.WWw.hAOZUowEN.com
preident can epre their inpidual tyle in how they decorate ome part of the houe and in how they receive the public during their tay. thoma jefferon held the firt inaugural open houe in 1805. many of thoe who attended the wearing-in ceremony at the u.. capitol imply followed him home, where he greeted them in the blue room. preident jefferon alo opened the houe for public tour, and it ha remained open, ecept during wartime, ever ince. in addition, he welcomed viitor to annual reception on new year’ day and on the fourth of july. in 1829, a horde of 20,000 inaugural caller forced preident andrew jackon to flee to the afety of a hotel while, on the lawn, aide filled wahtub with orange juice and whikey to lure the mob out of the mud-tracked white houe.
after abraham lincoln preidency, inaugural crowd became far too large for the white houe to accommodate them comfortably. however, not until grover cleveland firt preidency did thi unafe practice change. he held a preidential review of the troop from a flag-draped grandtand built in front of the white houe. thi proceion evolved into the official inaugural parade we know today. reception on new year day and the fourth of july continued to be held until the early 1930.
preident clinton open houe on january 21, 1993 renewed a venerable white houe inaugural tradition. two thouand citizen, elected by lottery, were greeted in the diplomatic reception room by preident and mr. clinton and vice preident and mr. gore.