Videos

The White House Historical Association, in this virtual event, hosted a reassessment of President Ulysses Grant’s military service, presidency, and legacy.

From the earliest slave-holding first ladies to later champions of civil rights, there is a complicated history of American first ladies and race relations. The White House Historical Associ…

The World War II correspondence between Richard and Patricia Nixon - he serving with the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific and she part of the war effort in San Francisco - recently was made pu…

First lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave Americans a televised tour of the restored White House public rooms on Valentine’s Day 1962. A reported 56 million viewers tuned into the CBS broadcast. Ja…

How have first ladies shaped history as presidential advisers and as advocates for societal change? That was the question before a panel of scholars convened by the White House Historical As…

Jay Hakes and Grace Hale talked about the life and influence of first lady Rosalynn Carter and responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. They discussed her high level of in…

The heads of the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, National Park Service, and National Archives talked about preserving presidential history. This was the opening event of the White House Hi…

Retired Rear Admiral Michael Giorgione served as Camp David commander during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He gave a behind-the-scenes account of the presidential geta…

Caroline Kennedy and first lady Jill Biden were among those remembering the work of Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1961 founding of the White House Historical Association. The association’s presi…

LBJ Foundation president and CEO Mark Updegrove offered a reassessment of John Kennedy’s presidency - with a focus on how JFK grew in office as he confronted domestic and foreign challenges.…

A panel discussed how presidents and first ladies developed and used the White House gardens during their administrations. This program was part of a day-long symposium hosted by the White H…

A panel of first ladies scholars talked about the work of Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon to preserve the historic nature of the White House -- and how that work reflect…

Michael Patrick Cullinane explained why Theodore Roosevelt is considered a modern president. Mr. Cullinane is the author of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost: The History and Memory of an American …

Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty talked with White House Historical Association President Stewart McLaurin about reconsidering Nancy Reagan’s legacy. Ms. Tumulty is the author of The …

Susan Ford Bales, daughter of President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford, talked about the Ford family’s time in the White House with former ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton. They fo…

Historian Robert Merry talked about William McKinley -- and argued that he was a successful president whose achievements have faded in public memory. The 25th president was elected to two te…

From the days of Martha Washington, America’s first ladies have been public figures. Betty Boyd Caroli talked about how Mrs. Washington and her successors defined their unique position. She …

The National Portrait Gallery’s senior historian Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw provided an overview of their exhibit, “Every Eye is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States.” She discussed how pai…

First ladies scholars answered the questions, “Why do first ladies have such powerful voices?” and “How have they wielded that power?” This panel was from a daylong symposium co-hosted by Am…

First ladies scholars reconsidered the lives and legacies of Sarah Polk, Mary Lincoln, and Lady Bird Johnson. They looked at how the women were viewed in their own times, and how history rem…