The condition of the 150-year-old White House in 1948 was a testament to the danger of making short-term improvements on the cheap for temporary residents.

Engineers determined the foundation beneath the interior walls could no longer support the upper floors and roof, causing the interior walls and floors to pull away from the exterior walls, leaving large gaps.

The building wasn’t safe, so the Truman family moved into Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue.

The total gutting and three-year reconstruction of the White House began the next year.

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