OPINION:
You can’t go a day without seeing rage-baiting internet posts or leftist news anchors clawing their hair out. The topic du jour? President Trump’s White House renovations.
You hear things like “destroying history” and that it’s a “true sign of fascism” to rebuild the president’s house. Several comments from armchair pundits have compared the work to the debris of 9/11. One would think the world had ended.
Let’s be clear: Mr. Trump’s renovations are not the first, nor will they be the last, in the history of the White House. Let’s break it down.
Rebuilding after war
The War of 1812 was a stalemate. It had a status quo outcome. One of the worst offenses and greatest losses was the destruction of the White House. On Aug. 24, 1814, British troops invaded the capital and laid it to ruin. The Capitol Building, White House and other government buildings were torched.
The White House interior was destroyed, but the exterior survived, barely. President Madison ordered it rebuilt, and he lived in the Octagon House and the Seven Buildings for the rest of his term. The White House was deemed livable in 1817 under President Monroe, though it took decades to complete reconstruction.
Dolly Madison saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.
Expansions: West Wing, Oval Office, East Wing
At the turn of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt saw his residence as outdated and cramped (partly because of his large family). Because of this, he ordered the construction of the West Wing, replacing the stables and greenhouses that had occupied the space. The renovations cost $65,000 (about $2.5 million today). In true fashion, The Washington Post was critical, saying the changes “destroyed its historic value and does not seem to have made it much more desirable as a residence.” (The more things change, the more they stay the same.)
Roosevelt also oversaw the construction of the East Wing. More than an office space, it was designed as an entryway for visitors, dignitaries and social events. Primarily, it was a coat room.
In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt expanded the East Wing into a more spacious area (mostly to cover the newly built bunker underneath). In 1977, first lady Rosalynn Carter moved her office into the East Wing, making it a more important part of the White House than originally intended.
Renovations: Truman’s interior dismantling
President Truman’s tenure was, in many ways, a time of transitions between World War II and the Cold War. Truman’s transitive presidency also applies to the White House. By 1948, several years into his presidency, it was evident that there were major safety and structural problems with the White House, thanks to years of neglect. The floors swayed, wooden supports on the second floor had visible cracks, and light fixtures swayed when people walked. One day in the summer of 1948, a black Baldwin grand piano leg broke through the floor and crashed through the ceiling of daughter Margaret Truman’s bedroom. One engineer at the time said the piano was standing only “out of habit.”
So began the renovations, lasting through 1952. Walls were torn down, facades demolished. The wooden frames were replaced with steel, reinforced by concrete. Essentially, nothing inside the White House remained. Per Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, “The scale of the Truman renovation shocked the public and drew intense scrutiny.” Most of all, the so-called Truman Balcony, on the second floor overlooking the South Lawn, was the biggest gripe. One congressman screamed that “this building belongs to the American people!”
All told, renovating the interior cost nearly $6 million (about $68 million today), making it the most significant renovation since the White House’s rebuilding more than a century earlier. It looked the same from the outside, but inside, it was a whole new residence.
Environmentalism: Carter
In 1979, with a disapproval rating of nearly 60%, President Carter installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the White House. If Mr. Trump is ideologically driven, so is this. The panels’ purpose? To heat water in the kitchen and laundry. That was it. Even at the time, they were considered no more than showmanship. They cost about $28,000 to install. One White House staffer speaking anonymously to The Associated Press immediately called them an “economic dog.”
A problem with solar panels is the (ahem) lack of solar power. This can be because of clouds, rain, snow or anything else that might block the sun, but Carter had a backup plan. Per The Economist: “electric heaters will be ready in case the sun fails to shine.”
In other words, it was pure idealism over practicality. This was during the 1979 U.S. energy crisis, when oil production dropped worldwide and the price doubled. Carter’s solution was to lead by example. The problem was that the example changed nothing. These panels were removed by President Reagan when he took office two years later.
If Mr. Trump is a fascist for his renovations, so are Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, Carter and all the other presidents. Though perhaps some people would agree with that. That’s how unhinged it is. Perhaps it’s building envy, a size-does-matter issue, or perhaps it’s something even more disturbing.
• Craig Shirley is a presidential scholar, having written 11 bestselling books, including six on Ronald Reagan and two on World War II. He is also a principal in the firm Shirley and McVicker.
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