White House Historical Association President
Stewart McLaurin Celebrates the 200th Anniversary of
Blair House and its History
WASHINGTON, July 31,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The White House Historical
Association released a new episode of The White House 1600
Sessions podcast today to honor the bicentennial of the
building of Blair House featuring a conversation about the history
of what has become known as Blair House: The President's Guest
House and its importance to American diplomacy. Stewart McLaurin, president of the Association,
speaks 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. McLaurin also takes a tour of the complex with
Matthew Wendel, the assistant chief
of protocol and general manager of Blair House. In this episode,
McLaurin and his guests provide a rare opportunity to go
behind the scenes at Blair House, which is closed to the
public, and see the museum-quality collection, diplomatic spaces,
and the principal suite where queens, presidents, and other
dignitaries have stayed.
Blair House is located mere steps from the White House. In the
1940s, the federal government purchased the private home 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.
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 and editor-in-chief 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.
Blair House: The President's Guest House by William Seale is available at
shop.whitehousehistory.org.
The full video of this podcast episode is also available on the
White House Historical Association's YouTube channel here.
The White House 1600 Sessions podcast is available on
Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
About the White House Historical Association
The White
House Historical Association was founded in 1961 by First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy to support her
vision to restore and preserve the Executive Mansion and its legacy
for generations to come. Mrs. Kennedy sought to inspire Americans,
especially children, to explore and engage with American history
and its presidents. Supported entirely by private resources, the
Association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has
contributed more than $115 million to
the White House in fulfillment of its mission. To learn more about
the White House Historical Association, please visit
WhiteHouseHistory.org.
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SOURCE The White House Historical Association