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    "localId": "16637555",
    "label": "Representative Gerald R. Ford's Report on the Committee on Public Works Visit to the White House",
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    "title": "Representative Gerald R. Ford's Report on the Committee on Public Works Visit to the White House",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
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            "logicalDate": "1949-04-02",
            "month": 4,
            "year": 1949
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    "ocrText": "COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS\nVISIT TO WHITE HOUSE, APRIL 2, 1949\nMet at West Wing Reception Room and proceeded to President\nTruman's private office where the President discussed with committee\nmembers the White House renovation problem, including the White House\nCommittee.\nSaw small room in basement of White House where President\nRoosevelt made his fireside chats. He would sit with his back to fire-\nplace, which was built in 1792 when White House was first erected.\nThirty-one fireplaces in White House including one in basement\nwhere cooking was originally done for the household. The latter has\nbeen or will be fully restored.\nMost women would consider White House an inconvenient place to\nlive, for it had very little built-in closet space. The closets, as\nused by President Truman, were either simply cabinets or extremely in-\nconvenient built-in jobs. In the rebuilding, the architects intend to\nremedy this situation by building good closet space in the interior walls.\nI stood on the President's famous, or infamous, new balcony\nand overlooked the beautiful White House lawns and gardens. 1 offer no\ncomment on the desirability of this change from an architectural point of\nview, but I can say the President now has a swell place to relax in com-\nplete privacy with the full benefit of the White House lawn.\nOur committee covered the Executive Mansion from the roof to\nthe basement. The view of Washington from the roof was awe inspiring\nand a beautiful sight, as we could see the Tidal Basin with the cherry\nFORD is LIBRARY GERALD\n- 2 -\nblossoms in full view. On a sub-roof, we inspected a special private\nhide-away built for President Roosevelt, who became a little irritated\non occasion with the noise from the White House special movie theatre.\nIt is said that he once remarked, \"I heard 'Gone With The Wind' four\ntimes.\"\nThe architect and engineers have removed plaster in spots\nthroughout the Executive Mansion and, as a result, one can see the\namudge from the fire of 1812 on the original brick. As you know, the\nBritish burned the White House in the War of 1812 after Dolly Madison\nfled. What was left standing was rebuilt into the present structure.\nno the ceiling of the famous Gold Room there is perhaps the\nmost beautiful fancy or ornamental plasterwork in the United States.\nThis will have to come down but minute drawings have been made and when\nthe new job has been completed it will be identical with the original.\nThe exterior walls are, in the main, Okay, but the interior\nwalls are in terrible shape. The interior walls, because the center area\nhas settled, are pulling away from the outside walls. In due time a\nreal disaster would have occurred.\nThe only real change will be in the location of the main\nstairway from the first to the second floor.\nIn the west wing there is a beautiful table presented to\nPresident Truman by J. G. Gibbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. The table\ntop has a map of the United States with each state in a different wood\nwith a different color.\nIt is anticipated that the White House job will be done in\nGERALD, FORD VIBRANI\n- 3 -\nabout 20 months. As we left the President he said, \"I hope we can get\nit done so I can have one year's occupancy.\" Does that imply any\nfuture political plans? Your guess is as good as mine.\nGLRALD FORD LIBRARY"
}