The White House 1600 Sessions

The White House showcases the very best of American culinary arts, whether it's providing the president some much needed nourishment after a long day or using a meal as a diplomatic tool between two nations. White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford spent almost 30 years working in the White House kitchens before retiring in July 2024. Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, spoke with Chef Comerford about growing up in the Philippines, falling in love with cooking, and becoming a U.S. citizen who never dreamed one day she would cook at the most famous address in America. 

Chef Comerford started as an assistant chef in 1995 during the Clinton presidency, and just 10 years later was named Executive Chef by First Lady Laura Bush. Chef Comerford was the first woman and first person of color named to the top position in the White House kitchen. She cooked for five presidents and their families, dozens of dignitaries, and literally thousands of guests from all around the world - overseeing more than 50 state dinners along the way. 

The key to cooking at the White House? Chef Comerford says it’s being able to listen and read the room properly because at the end of the day “...this is not your restaurant. This is not about you, it’s about the president or the family who are living in that White House at the moment.” Hear about what it takes to put on a state dinner, which president has his own chili recipe, and much more about cooking at the White House.

Given how things started almost 250 years ago between the United States and King George III, the history of diplomacy and friendship between the White House and Queen Elizabeth II is quite remarkable. Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, talked about this history with David Charter, the assistant editor (US) of The Times and author of Royal Audience: 70 years, 13 presidents--One Queen's Special Relationship with America. 

Queen Elizabeth II reigned over the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms for seven decades until her death in 2022 - the longest-serving British monarch of all time. She first visited the United States as a princess when she and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived in Washington, D.C. on October 31, 1951. She stayed at Blair House with President Harry Truman and his family, as the White House was under major renovation. Several months later she would ascend the throne after the passing of her father, King George VI. 

It would be years before her first visit to the United States as Queen, when she and her husband arrived on October 17, 1957 and stayed with President Dwight Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower at the White House. The Queen had a fondness for Eisenhower having met him during World War II. Queen Elizabeth would go on to meet every sitting president through Joe Biden, except for Lyndon Johnson, and you’ll learn why in this episode. You’ll also find out with which president she shared her scone recipe, the president who most shared her love of horses, and the presidential family that reminded her a great deal of her own.

In his latest book “The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency,” David Rubenstein, renowned financier, philanthropist, and host of PBS’s History with David Rubenstein, takes a fresh look at what it means to hold the office of President of the United States. It is a role that has been shaped and defined by only 45 individuals, and one that contains a great deal of history while also sparking a number of myths. 

Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, talked with Rubenstein at the Association’s new immersive space at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. called “The People’s House: A White House Experience” in front of an audience of the Association’s Next-Gen Leaders. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, as well as a patriotic philanthropist who has helped restore and preserve American treasures like the Washington Monument and the Emancipation Proclamation. He is also a generous supporter of the Association’s mission of research and education, including the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History. Having gotten his start as a domestic policy adviser under President Jimmy Carter, Rubenstein was a firsthand witness to what it takes to be a public servant and work in the Oval Office. 

This conversation focuses on the importance of civics, the attributes that make a successful leader, and much more as they delve into Rubenstein’s new book that includes interviews with historians, journalists, and most of the living U.S. presidents.

From podium plaques and flags to the doors of the presidential limo and Air Force One, it is always present: fifty stars encircling an eagle whose talons hold bundles of olive branches and arrows, and around that circle of stars, a band with the words “Seal of the President of the United States.” If you’ve ever wondered where that design came from and how those symbols are made, join Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, on a special tour of The Institute of Heraldry at Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army installation in Northern Virginia.

The art of heraldry goes back centuries and is usually associated with military groups and nobility. Colors and symbols created a design used as a form of identification. America's Founding Fathers were very cautious about adopting anything closely related to monarchy and the nobility, so there was no standard design based on traditional heraldry representing the Office of the President until the 1940s.

Near the end of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt asked heraldry experts and military personnel to create an official design for the presidential flag, seal, and coat of arms. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt died before the project was completed. Still, President Harry Truman saw it through and, in October 1945, signed an executive order establishing for the very first time a legal definition of the president's coat of arms and seal as used by the president.

In 1948, President Truman did the same with designs for the Office of the Vice President. Those designs, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, decorations, badges, flags, and other insignia for the U.S. military services and departments throughout the federal government, are created with the assistance of The Institute of Heraldry. And those plaques you see affixed to the podiums behind which the president and vice president speak? Unbelievably, all of those are crafted and painted by hand at the Institute and nowhere else. 

In this episode you will hear from Charles Mugno, Director of The Institute of Heraldry; Thomas Casciaro, Chief of the Technical and Production Division at The Institute of Heraldry; as well as Michael Craghead, Exhibit Specialist at The Institute of Heraldry, who has been painting plaques for the president and vice president for over twenty years. We hope you enjoy this special look behind the scenes of the making of the presidential seal. 

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Blair House, known as the president's guest house, is located mere steps from the White House. 2024 marks the bicentennial of the building of Blair House, which for 200 years has been a quiet but integral part of our nation's history. Today, Blair House is actually a complex made up of four townhouses. Originally built in 1824 for Doctor Joseph Lovell, the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, the Blair family purchased the property in 1837 when Francis Preston Blair became publisher of the pro-Andrew Jackson newspaper, The Washington Globe.

Blair was an influential member of President Jackson's inner circle and remained an informal adviser and confidante to Presidents Martin Van Buren and Abraham Lincoln, the latter of whom was a frequent visitor. As the city began to change, it would be Blair’s grandson, Gist, who sought President Franklin Roosevelt’s help in preserving the home. In the 1940s, the federal government purchased Blair House and began transforming it into the president’s guest house for visiting dignitaries. It's also become the place where the president-elect usually stays before every presidential inauguration, and a welcoming sanctuary for many of the grieving presidential families during a state funeral. Blair House is a living, working space that is maintained with the utmost care: the staffing and structural needs are supported by the U.S. Department of State, and since 1985, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Blair House Foundation has raised private funds to preserve the rooms, gardens and amenities.

Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, speaks about the history of Blair House and its importance to American diplomacy with the Honorable Capricia Marshall, former U.S. Chief of Protocol and vice chair of the Blair House 200th Anniversary Campaign, and Ambassador Stuart Holliday, former U.S. ambassador for special political affairs at the United Nations and trustee of the Blair House Foundation. Stewart also takes a tour of the complex with Matthew Wendel, the assistant chief of protocol and general manager of Blair House. Since Blair House is closed to the public, this is a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and see the museum-standard artifacts, diplomatic spaces, and the principal suite where queens, presidents, and other dignitaries have stayed.

An updated edition of the White House Historical Publication Blair House The President's Guest House by William Seale is available at shop.whitehousehistory.org. 

President of the United States and Commander in Chief are titles that only 45 unique men over 46 presidencies have carried since the office was established in 1789. It is a role that is continually being shaped and reshaped through each decade, presidency, personality, and each of the character traits that have defined these men. Author, historian, and attorney, Talmage Boston, set out to see what made eight of these presidents a great leader - from George Washington to Ronald Reagan - in his new book “How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents.” 

White House Historical Association president Stewart McLaurin sat down with Talmage to talk about the lessons outlined in the book, as well as how those lessons can be applied by people in all walks of life, and of all ages, who want to work on becoming a better leader, and perhaps, even a better citizen. They discuss examples of these presidents’ strengths and character, as well as some of their flaws and shortcomings. With dozens of leadership traits, you can learn how to inspire optimism like Ronald Reagan, learn from your mistakes like John F. Kennedy, manage teams like Dwight D. Eisenhower, and more.

Theodore Roosevelt is often thought of as the Rough Rider and the man known for quoting the proverb “Speak softly and carry a big stick….“ Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, met with Edward O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation and author of the new book called The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President to discuss another side of T.R.: the five extraordinary women without whom he may never have become the 26th President of the United States.

Join Stewart and Ed as they visit Theodore Roosevelt Island, the national memorial located in Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River, and reflect on the man born in New York City who some would call “the conservation president.” Roosevelt was an imperfect man of his time, one born to privilege but who advocated the strenuous life after struggling with ill-health and losing two of his greatest loves, his mother and his first wife, on the same day. We learn about his mother, Martha, a Southern belle with a keen wit, and Alice, his college sweetheart and first wife, who drew him away from science and into politics, including the support of women’s suffrage. 

We meet T.R.’s older sister, Anna, who would become his trusted advisor and political strategist, and his younger sister, Corinne, would become one of his best promoters. Then we’re introduced to First Lady Edith Carow Roosevelt, Theodore’s childhood playmate and second wife, who would go on to leave her own mark on the White House both in the role of presidential spouse as well as with a major renovation of the Executive Mansion. Hear more about these five women, an update on the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library being built in North Dakota, and get a view of Theodore Roosevelt Island, in this episode of The White House 1600 Sessions.

Find all our podcasts at: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-white-house-1600-sessions

Washington National Cathedral sits atop the highest point in Washington, D.C. and is the sixth largest cathedral in the world. This splendid example of Gothic architecture is not only the home to an Episcopal congregation but a house of prayer for all people from around the United States and the world. When President George Washington commissioned Major Pierre L'Enfant in 1791 to create a plan for the new capital city, L'Enfant included in his design a great church for national purposes. 

The idea never happened as L'Enfant envisioned, instead it would be more than 100 years before Congress granted a charter authorizing a cathedral dedicated to religion, education, and charity. Construction began in 1907 and the Washington National Cathedral took shape during two World Wars, the Great Depression and 16 presidencies - from President Theodore Roosevelt to President George H.W. Bush. We know it today as a sacred place which holds state funerals of presidents, memorial services of great Americans, as well as national prayer services. There’s even one president buried at the Cathedral. 

White House Historical Association president Stewart McLaurin is joined by the Very Reverend Randolph Hollerith, the 11th Dean of Washington National Cathedral, and Reverend Canon Jan Naylor Cope, the Provost of Washington National Cathedral, to discuss the role the Cathedral has played in America’s history and the indelible link it has to those who hold the office of the President of the United States. We also go on a tour of the Cathedral and see where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his final Sunday sermon, where a stone taken from the White House during the Truman renovation is embedded into a wall of the Cathedral, and many more treasures.

Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, sits down with White House Historical Association president Stewart McLaurin to discuss the depth of America’s Irish roots. The history between Ireland and the United States goes back to the founding of America and the Revolutionary War. Irish immigrants and their descendants helped build this country, including the Irish-born James Hoban, who emigrated to the U.S. and went on to design the White House. Millions of Americans claim their Irish heritage, including half of all U.S. presidents. 

So, it's no surprise that the White House continues to mark the month of March with several St. Patrick’s Day traditions, from the gifting of shamrocks between a representative of Ireland’s leadership to the president to dyeing the water green in the White House fountains. But the relationship between Ireland and the United States extends beyond these celebrations, with diplomacy and investment driving a longstanding friendship built on a spirit of independence. In the words of President Joe Biden, "the fabric of modern America is woven through with the green of the Emerald Isle.” 

Jonathan Alter, journalist and author of “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life,” talks with Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, about the remarkable journey of President Jimmy Carter from peanut farmer to Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Filmed at the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., the church home of the Carters while they lived in the White House, Stewart and Jonathan met with Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell, who showed them rare memorabilia, including the Carter family’s original membership cards, where Amy received baptism, and where the President taught adult Sunday school more than a dozen times during his presidency.

Born in Plains, Georgia on October 1, 1924, President Carter grew up without running water or electricity. Eager to leave home, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy, married, and served in the U.S. Navy. He and his young wife and kids returned to Plains to help save the family farm after his father passed away. From there, he took an interest in politics, working his way up from county boards to the Georgia State Senate to the Governor’s Mansion. Then he and Mrs. Carter launched into national politics, winning the 1976 election and moving to Washington, D.C. with their youngest child and only daughter, Amy. Known for a life of faith and service, the 39th President of the United States became the longest-lived president and half of the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history.

Stewart and Jonathan talk about the Carters’ time in the White House and the decades-long post-presidency they spent creating The Carter Center, which works to alleviate human suffering around the world, and among many other things, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and raising awareness about mental health and caregiving.

The Official 2024 White House Christmas Ornament features a unique design inspired by the life and presidency of Jimmy Carter. You can purchase an ornament at this link.