The Hidden History of the White House | 1
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After six years and 68 seasons, American History Tellers is releasing its first book, The Hidden History of the White House, Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments, published by William Morrill, an imprint of HarperCollins. This book is available now in hardcover and digital editions wherever you get your books. Check out the link in the show notes to order your copy now. And if you listen to the audiobook, you'll hear me reading the introduction.

So on today's special episode, we'll go inside the book with its author, Corey Mead, and journalist Kate Anderson Brower, who wrote the foreword.

Over the last 200 years, the White House has been known by many names. The President's House, the Executive Mansion, the President's Palace. And ever since its first occupants, John and Abigail Adams, moved in in the year 1800, the White House has been synonymous with presidential power and American democracy. Its walls have been witness to dramatic scenes from our country's history, political clashes, closed-door meetings, and fateful decisions that have changed the nation.

In the Hidden History of the White House, we invite you to imagine yourself in the halls of power, eavesdropping on some of the country's pivotal moments. And your guide on this journey is our first guest, Corey Mead. He's an associate professor of English at the City University of New York and is the author of the Hidden History of the White House, as well as three previous books. Then later, we'll be joined in this episode by bestselling author Kate Anderson Brower.

In her book, The Residence, Inside the Private World of the White House, Brower shares stories from the staff who keep the White House running 24 hours a day. My conversation with Corey Mead and Kate Anderson Brower is up next. T-Mobile has home internet on America's largest 5G network. It's how I stream the game. It's how I knock out the shopping list. It's how I level up.

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Corey Mead, welcome to American History Tellers. Thanks so much for having me.

You know, I have never been to the White House, but I imagine after writing a book about the White House that you might have been. Have you visited? I first visited the White House when I was 13 years old. And what struck me about that visit was the fact of actually being able to go inside in the first place.

We showed up there in the morning. We got in line. We got our tickets. And, you know, when it was our turn, we were guided into the house and guided through the part of the house that visitors are allowed to see. And I was just until that moment, if you would ask me, I wouldn't have thought it was possible to visit. And, of course, you know, I was young. But that's really what struck me, that we were walking through the very place where the president was right then working. And during the tour, if you remember all those years ago, were you told any of the stories that you found in the book? No.

The one story I remember from the tour was about Dolly Madison saving a famous Gilbert Stewart portrait of George Washington, and that ended up being part of the lead-off chapter in the book. Well, let's turn our attention to the book. How did this project come together? What's the genesis?

The genesis of this project was for American history tellers wanting to ranch out because they know a lot of the listeners are also passionate readers of American history. So the idea was, what is a book that would be timely and relevant for listeners of the show and with the

upcoming presidential election, they thought a book about the White House would really fit because it's a time when people are thinking about the next occupant of the White House. And what the book allows is a chance to sort of look at the varying personalities and, you know, moments of crisis or triumph or whatever else that have marked the residence for, you know, 200 years. Now, this building has a long history and a lot of history, consequential history. How did you plan it out? What's the premise of the book? How is it laid out?

The book is divided in three sections. The first part focuses on different aspects of the construction and renovations of the house. I don't mean that to sound like it's an architectural overview. It's not that. It's still dynamic stories, people-fronted stories. But it deals with various aspects of the actual residence itself.

And then we move on to the consideration of who's been allowed access to the House over the centuries. And the third section deals with the fact that the White House itself is really a reflection of America on the larger stage. Like what happens in the House also reflects the national mood and international mood. And so stories that sort of show the White House as a place that's also a symbol of something much larger than itself.

Let's give our listeners a bit of a preview of the first portion of the book, the construction of the White House. Who built the White House and when did presidents start living there? The first work on the White House was done in 1791 when about 200 enslaved black workers dug the foundation. And that was pretty brutal labor. And then starting in 1792 when work began in earnest there,

The first thing that had to be done, and this is something that struck me. A lot of people talk about the fact that Washington, D.C. was built on a swamp.

And that's not entirely true. There were certainly swampy areas, but it was also a very thickly forested, very verdant landscape. And so after digging the foundation, the next work, and this again involved enslaved workers along with some indentured servants, was clearing the vast avenues of Washington, D.C., clearing the trees from them. So cutting them down, digging out the stumps, that part of the labor was also incredibly just backbreaking, brutal work.

So then when it came time to actually build the residence after that, they also had to bring in more skilled craftsmen. And initially the thought had been that the enslaved black workers would only be for the sort of grunt work, but once the commissioners overseeing the project saw how skilled they were,

They kept many of them on for some of the more skilled craft work. In addition to a lot of craftsmen came from Scotland and Ireland, some of the stone workers. And so the ultimate workforce was a combination of enslaved and free blacks, indentured servants, and international workers. And the first residents of the White House, John Adams and his wife, Abigail. And when they moved in in 1801, it was still really inhospitable. Lots of it was unfinished.

It was freezing inside because of a lack of windows. You know, Abigail famously had to like hang her laundry in one of the rooms. It was dank and dark. And then the landscape outside it also looked apocalyptic almost. It was just this scarred sort of charred landscape of dead stumps and things like that. So it was a really miserable place to be.

So this is a very recent seat of presidential power for the country. And early in its history, this is probably where the story that you remember from your tour comes in. It was only 13 years after its eventual construction that the White House was under attack. Tell us that story.

Yeah, and I have to say, this is one of the things really delving into the story was one of the most surprising elements of this book, because I think a lot of people know maybe the sort of headline factor of like that the British burned the White House. It was the War of 1812, and that had been going on for two years. It was America versus England. And

A lot of people had grown tired of the war. They called it Mr. Madison's War, a reference to President James Madison, and it had been going poorly. And the British had docked a huge fleet of warships at the Patuxent River down from Washington, D.C. But nobody at the time thought that Washington itself would be a target because at the time, the capital...

It was just not of any strategic value. There were just a few houses, and it was not a seat of power. Baltimore was the real seat of power, so people assumed the British would march on Baltimore, so much so that on the day that the British did, in fact, march on Washington, Dolly Madison was still planning a dinner party for a number of guests as late as 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

When the British did start the march to Washington, they were met by a sort of ragtag group of American volunteers. The British couldn't believe them when they saw them because they looked like farmers, basically, which a lot of them were. They didn't have uniforms. And they hadn't really had any training, maybe a day or two of musket training. So they put up a valiant fight, but they were overrun by the British, who at the time were the best trained army in the world. And

And so when the British finally marched on Washington, they went first to the Capitol. And the Capitol wasn't quite finished in the way we know it today, but it was still a very grand building. And in fact, when the British marched inside, a lot of the regulars were stunned by how beautiful it was. They didn't think that America would have anything that on its interior would be equal to some of the finest buildings on the continent.

So they were given the order to burn the Capitol by their commanders, and a lot of the regulars were actually upset because it was such a beautiful place. It also housed the Library of Congress, so there were thousands of rare books in there, grand staircases. But they torched it. They lit it on fire, and then they began the march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

And they found the table still set for the dinner party that Dolly Madison had been planning. So the first thing they did when they entered the White House was sit down and feast on the ham and the wine that had been laid out for the guests.

Then they marched upstairs and they went into the Madison's bedroom and they tried on the clothes of like President Madison, made fun of how small he was. They looked at Dolly's dresses and mocked her bosom. They spiked one of Madison's hats on their bayonet. And then they took everything possible. They took furniture. They took curtains. They piled it up and they set it on fire.

And President Madison was in the Virginia hills at the time, and he could look back and he could see the city burning. And the destruction was vast. But the one good thing with the White House is that George Washington had wanted it built with stone walls, which it was sandstone walls. And so those walls actually withstood the fire. So the next day it was a smoking mess and most of the interior was burned, but the walls still stood intact.

Now, you would think after being attacked once that there would be tighter security at the White House afterwards. But as we find out in the book, not too long after, in March 1829, the White House was overrun again, but this time by its own citizens in celebration of Andrew Jackson's inauguration. I understand it was customary at the time for incoming presidents to host an inaugural reception that was open to the public. But Jackson's inauguration, well, it took things a bit further. What happened?

Well, Jackson's inauguration in general, just setting the scene in the city that day, Jackson was the first president that wasn't born into wealth and status. He was a man of the people. That's also how he styled himself, although by the time he was elected, he actually was a very wealthy man. But so on the day of his inauguration—

Huge numbers, estimates vary between 20,000 and 40,000 people had come to see, to view as inauguration. And the city was absolutely packed. And it was packed with people of all stripes. They saw Jackson as someone like themselves who represented themselves. So lots of people that the inhabitants of Washington weren't used to seeing participated. And so when Jackson actually gave his speech from the Capitol, the streets were absolutely packed.

And once he finished his speech and he walked outside and he got on this magnificent white horse, he was an expert horseman, and began the procession down the street to the White House. Everybody lined up behind Jackson's horse and began following him down to the White House. And one onlooker just remembers watching and kept thinking that the stream of people would eventually run out, and it just didn't, person after person. And so you're right, that tradition had held that the White House, there would be a post-inaugural reception for incoming presidents.

But in the past, those had always been sort of elite affairs with only diplomats and politicians attending. They'd been small affairs. But the nature of Jackson's populism and his popularity among the masses was

meant that even by the time he arrived, the White House was already completely overrun with people. In fact, they opened up the windows outside for people to be able to climb in because too many people were cramming at the entrance. And of course, for observers who were used to the past, very sort of muted elite affairs,

they were shocked to see common people packing the White House. And, you know, there were reports of men standing on these beautiful silk chairs and couches and their filthy, muddy boots straining to get a glimpse of Jackson once he entered. And the waiters were bringing out bowls of punch and glasses, and they kept colliding with people who were there to see Jackson spilling. So there was glass all over the place. Jackson himself was

There were so many people lining up to shake his hand that his aides were actually worried that he was going to suffocate. So they formed this kind of protective barrier around him to keep him from getting crushed by the crowd. And things got so incredibly hectic that the White House steward, thinking very quickly, decided to try to get people to leave the White House. He dragged Tubbs away.

of spiked punch and liquor and pails out onto the White House lawn so people would follow it. And it worked. People started jumping out the windows and streaming out the front door to try to get this liquor. And so once that happened, Jackson's aides managed to extricate him and take him back to his hotel.

The aftermath, some society hostess who showed up right after Jackson left was just disgusted by the sight because there was broken glass all over the floor of the White House, just rubble strewn everywhere. And she was horrified by the fact that there are so many commoners there and children running around and people of all stripes. I'm speaking with Corey Mead about American History Teller's new book, The Hidden History of the White House, Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments. After this quick break, we'll be joined by journalist Kate Anderson Brower, who wrote the book's foreword.

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Kate Anderson Brower, welcome to American History Tellers. Thanks for having me, Lindsay. Now, Kate, when did you first visit the White House and what was your recollection of the visit? Well, at the end of George W. Bush's second term in the White House, I was a reporter at Bloomberg News and they needed somebody to go to the White House for the

the president's Camp David trip. And, you know, I was in my early 20s, so I eagerly volunteered to do this. It was a weekend. It was early morning. No one else wanted to do it, basically. And I thought that I was going to Camp David with George W. Bush and that I was going to cover the president's trip. And Camp David, as you know, was the presidential retreat outside of Washington. So I was very excited. And it turns out that really they just needed somebody to go to the South Lawn and watch Marine One, the helicopter, take off.

And make sure that, you know, everything went smoothly and report back to the editors at Bloomberg that everything had gone fine. And so that was my first introduction to the White House office.

I worked from the White House for several years as a White House reporter. And as a reporter, you're constantly on the state floor of the White House. You're not in the residence. You're not on the second or third floors that are reserved for the family. You don't go up there. But the state floor of the White House, you are in and out of there throughout the day. So I was very familiar with the state dining room, the East Room. But you are...

as a reporter is squirted in and out. But I was inside the White House countless times as a reporter, and it never got old. So you likely became very familiar with the White House and its occupants. Can you give us an idea of how many people it takes to run the White House, the various kinds of positions and roles?

There are about 100 people who work behind the scenes at the White House, and I didn't realize this when I was a reporter. It was only towards the end of my time as a White House reporter when there was a lunch that Michelle Obama hosted, and we went to the old family dining room on the state floor. There were about a dozen of us, mostly female reporters that covered the first lady there.

And a butler came in dressed in a tuxedo and served Mrs. Obama on this elegant china. And she had a relationship with him. They were, at least she was on a first name basis with him. And it was a very fascinating glimpse into this world of people who are butlers, engineers, painters, cooks.

You name it, the White House relies on these folks to run the day-to-day operations, and they're there.

from one administration to the next. So they are not hired by the president, which I think is really unique here in Washington to have a nonpartisan group of people who are working for American democracy and the White House and what it stands for and not one president or another. And this has been true for the whole history of the White House, that not only are these people dedicated to their job, but the presidents themselves grow very close to their staff. Oh.

Oh, they're extremely close to the staff. You know, for presidents and first ladies, they live in this fishbowl world in the White House. They live on the second and the third floors.

of the house. So it can be difficult because there's not a lot of privacy. The only place they can really let their hair down is in the residence on the second and third floor. And there are about a half dozen butlers. And they are really the ones who see everything, the butlers. And then there are a couple of valets who work for the military and not the resident staff. But

They are the ones that are in the inner sanctum. And they get so close to the president and first lady that I know from keeping in touch with several of these butlers, you know, when it's their birthdays, they receive a phone call occasionally. And one of the really wonderful things is that when someone gets married or someone passes away, sometimes the presidents and first ladies go to the funerals or the weddings, which is really special.

Now, in your research and reporting, you've spoken to many of these people. You still keep in touch with them. I wonder if anyone in particular in the behind-the-scenes crowd stands out to you.

For me, the most fascinating story is of Mary Prince, who was the Carters' nanny. She worked for the Carters when President Carter was governor of Georgia. And then she came with them to Washington and took care of Amy Carter, their very young daughter. And her story is so amazing because she had actually been charged with murder. She was in her mid-20s. She was living in Georgia. She's Black.

And there was a fight outside of a bar. I interviewed Mary, and I know her fairly well. And she described how she barely got to talk to her lawyer before the trial, and she was sentenced to life in prison. And she met Rosalind Carter through a work release program where she was working outside at the governor's mansion in Georgia.

And Rosalind just really took to her and asked if she wanted to watch Amy. And Amy was three years old at the time, and the two just got along like a house on fire, and they had so much fun together. Mary ended up coming to the White House, and President Carter was actually her parole officer before they got her conviction overturned. So, I mean, to me, that's one of the fascinating stories of this human relationship. You know, Mary still lives in

down the street from President Carter in Plains, Georgia. She was at Rosalind Carter's funeral. She's a member of the Carter family, essentially. Now, Corey, with so many people taking care of the White House, you would think that it would be in good repair. But that's not really the case all the time. In fact, as you go into in the book, in 1949, the Trumans had to move out as the White House underwent renovations. Give us a taste of what it was like before they moved out.

So when the Trumans first moved in, they were moving into this incredibly shoddy residence. The floors were rotting, carpets were threadbare, curtains were hanging, strands, there were cracks in the ceiling, holes in the plaster, rats. And there started to be really alarming incidents. There was a reception for the Daughters of the American Revolution, and there was this massive chandelier hanging overhead that Mrs. Truman noticed suddenly began swinging wildly back and forth over the heads of the assembled guests.

The most shocking incident happened one evening when Margaret and a friend were playing a piano duet upstairs. And as they were doing the recital, they came to this particularly fervent part in the music, and suddenly Margaret felt like there was an earthquake, and the piano literally broke through the floor. Plaster went tumbling down to the floor below. So that was sort of the final straw for Truman as far as realizing that big changes needed to be made in the residence.

And then when the Trumans did move back in, everything was new. New rooms, new plaster, new paint, new plumbing, and a new feature called Project 9. What was that?

Project 9 was a fortified bomb shelter in the basement in case of nuclear attack. And, you know, that's a great example of what I mentioned before of how changes in the White House reflect changes in the nation at large. And so the sort of post-World War II fear of a new nuclear world was, you know, reflected in the fact of this feature that was added during the massive White House renovation.

So with each new occupant, the White House changes. And it also changes, of course, you know, with the times, with new technology or new threats as bomb shelters are placed in it. When Richard Nixon entered the office, he introduced new technology as well, a tape recording system. That didn't work out for him. Why did he install it, though?

Well, his stated reason for installing it was because he didn't feel like his senior staff kept detailed enough memos about their meetings, especially Kissinger, who often wouldn't turn in his memos until significantly after the fact.

He said, and Haldeman, his assistant, said to the person, Alexander Butterfield, that they tasked with installing the system, that it was simply there for historical reasons to preserve accurate notes of meetings. That's probably not the real case. It just has to do with Nixon's sort of famous paranoia and, you know, desire to sort of be everywhere. But that was the cover version. Now, Kate, you spoke to the White House chief electrician who shared stories about Nixon's final days in office. What did he have to say about those?

Well, the White House chief electrician's name was Bill Kliber, and he was one of the few people in the Oval Office when Nixon resigned on August 8th, 1974, when he announced his resignation. When I interviewed Bill, he had long since retired from the White House, but he remembered that day like it was yesterday. He said...

There was dead silence in the room. It was creepy silent, he said. There was a great anecdote where he talked about after Nixon finished this broadcast, Kluber left the Oval Office and walked down the colonnade, which is right next to the Rose Garden. And Nixon was following behind him, and it was just silence. It was late at night.

And Nixon said, you know, where are you heading? And Clyburn said, back to the residence. And he kind of moved aside to let Nixon go in front of him. But Nixon said, walk with me. And the two walked together. It's a short walk. And Bill said that he felt compelled to say something to him. And he said, you did the best job you could. And Nixon said, I wish a lot of people felt that way.

And it looked like he was about to cry, Kliber said. So there's a sense of empathy that the staff has for the people who serve in the White House, regardless of their personal political beliefs. And that's not the only Nixon White House staff story you've been told. In the middle of Watergate, Nixon had a, I don't know, he really wanted to go bowling. What happened?

As Watergate was absolutely taking up every bit of space in American newspapers and everyone was consumed by what was going to happen, Nixon was desperate for an escape. And he, of course, he famously stayed up very late at night and it was late at night and nobody was in the White House. He goes to the kitchen and he finds Freddie Mayfield, who was a White House pot washer, they called him.

And Nixon asked him if he wanted to go bowling. And I think this also shows how lonely Nixon was at this time. And Freddie said, sure, it's late. Can you write a note to my wife to just explain why I'm going to be out until, you know, two in the morning? So when they finished up, Nixon wrote a note to Freddie's wife and they had it framed on their wall at home explaining what he was doing out so late. But

It's those kind of intimate moments that I think are so interesting. I suppose that story brings up a question that many people might not know. There's a bowling alley in the White House? Right. Yeah, right. They didn't go out to go bowling. They went bowling in the White House.

It's not a very fancy bowling alley. It's pretty bare bones. But like the White House swimming pool that Ford put in and the basketball court that President Obama put in, it's a way for presidents and their families to kind of feel a little more normal. And of course, they can't leave the White House easily. So I think they try to do whatever they can to feel normal. And that was one of the things that was really popular back in the 70s. You know, bowling was something people loved to do and Nixon loved to bowl.

I'm speaking with Corey Mead and Kate Anderson Brower about a new book inspired by the American History Tellers podcast, The Hidden History of the White House, Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments, available now from William Morrow. We'll hear more stories from the White House in a moment.

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So, Corey, the White House is often a place of high-powered dinner parties, and a lot of dignitaries are delighted to attend, probably no one more so than in 1901 when Booker T. Washington dined at the White House as the first Black person to do so with President Theodore Roosevelt. Tell us about that story.

Yeah, that night in 1901 was a real watershed. Booker T. Washington had been an ally and a friend of Roosevelt for a long time preceding the presidency. They corresponded frequently, telegrams and letters back and forth. Washington even stayed at Roosevelt's house in Oyster Bay, Long Island.

Washington at the time was probably the best known and most respected black man in America. He lectured, you know, around the world to rapturous audience. He'd published a bestselling book up from slavery and he ran the Tuskegee Institute down in Alabama.

But the dinner invitation came about after Roosevelt's sort of surprise took over the presidency after McKinley was assassinated because Roosevelt wanted advice on political appointees down south, who he should appoint to what positions. And so he was relying on Washington to sort of give him the skinny because Washington was incredibly connected politically and knowledgeable. From Washington's perspective, he was really interested in getting

getting as many black appointees to political office as possible, or at the very least, white appointees who are friendly to black interests. So the fact of them meeting together made a lot of sense. But when Washington got to D.C. and was staying with a friend, he received notice that Roosevelt was inviting him to dinner that evening. And he was shocked because he knew Roosevelt.

How frowned upon that would be in the South. But ultimately, he decided that the invitation represented recognition of the black race. And so he didn't have any right to refuse or even to think twice about it. So he accepted it.

So when he arrived at the White House, the president and first lady greeted him, and four of their five children were also present for the dinner. They were very young at the time. And Washington was really struck during the dinner itself by the way that the Roosevelts and their children interacted. In his own home, he and his wife had much more formal dinners, and the children were sort of expected to sit there and eat quietly and be respectful.

But the Roosevelt children, we know, were rambunctious, high energy. They were running around. They brought their pets into the room to show them their rodents and things like that. And Washington really found it touching, the very warm and friendly interaction between parents and children.

When the story got out in the press a day or two later about the fact that Washington had dined at the White House, the Southern press was just aflame with fury and indignation. The idea that in this house that wasn't, you know, the president's personal house, it was a house that represented the nation, that a black man had been invited to dine was, you know, basically like the worst possible thing that could have happened today.

The Northern Papers, there's a great, actually I'm going to read this directly, there's a great quote from a Boston paper joking that the hysterical and whore-stricken Southern shriekers would eventually realize that life is still worth living despite the fact that a gifted, interesting, and attractive olive-skinned Christian gentleman had dined with the president. So it very much represented the split in the country at the time.

Well, I guess we can all imagine what the 1901 Southern press would think when they learned that the Obamas were the first African-American president and first lady. I think we can imagine, yes. Now, Kate, you write about a special kind of understanding between the black staff at the White House and the Obamas. What is that understanding?

Well, I mean, you know, the Obamas said that looking at the mostly black staff in the residence was like looking at their own, you know, could be their uncles, could be their aunts. I mean, Michelle Obama had family members who worked in the service industry as well. And by the way, the thing about

The resident staff is that they don't see this in a negative light at all. They see this as a really great job because what they're doing is helping the first family. And in fact, Reginald Dixon, who was the assistant usher at the White House when the Obamas were there, a black man, was very close to Michelle Obama. And when she was on a trip...

with President Obama, and shockingly, bullets were fired into the White House. And there were casings on the Truman balcony. And when she came home, nobody told her about it immediately because President Obama was still out on the road, and there was a lot of discussion about, well, should we wait until the president comes back before we tell her? And, you know, her mom, who lived on the third floor of the White House, said,

And her youngest daughter, Sasha, they were in the White House at the time that these bullets were fired. And the person who ended up telling her was Reginald Dixon, the assistant usher. I think it's interesting that it was a secret not kept that brought these two together, especially in a house which probably contains a lot of secrets.

Corey, I'm sure in your research that you've discovered a few you enjoy. What surprised you about a secret of the White House? I think the secret that surprised me the most was the fact that one of the acting presidents actually was not acting as president for the last part of his term, and this was President Woodrow Wilson. The context for this story is that out of the ashes of World War I, Wilson was trying very hard to establish an international league of nations, which would sort of ensure that a global war on that scale wouldn't happen again.

And he had been driving passionately for it for months. In 1919, he had a stroke that completely incapacitated him. And rather than informing the other members of his administration, let alone the general public, Woodrow's wife, Edith, and his doctor sort of made this pact where Edith would then act as shadow president in his...

in his absence. I think of all the secrets that have gone on in the White House, that have happened in the White House, that would be the greatest secret of all, that Edith was actually the president from 1919 for the remainder of Wilson's term, while keeping it a secret from the public. And Kate, I'm sure that you've heard your share of White House secrets as well, especially those

Yeah, there's some wonderful stories. I was told, for instance, the head housekeeper, Christine Limerick, told me a great story about the Bush daughters, Jenna and Barbara, having a party in the solarium. They were underage and they were drinking, and one of their guests went and tried to climb up on the roof and touch the flagpole on the top of the solarium.

the White House. And Christine was very concerned, and she called the usher's office, and this usher had to get involved and get this kid down. And the idea is they would never tell the Bushes that. I don't know if they know to this day that that happened. I'm sure Jenna probably said something. But this idea that they're there to protect the children, too, because they see that this is not a normal life.

And the staff worked very hard to make sure that people didn't know that Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheelchair. And so before state dinner, they would wheel him into the state dining room before anybody else. You know, they were very much aware that that is something that was not supposed to be public. And they were part of that, not cover up, but part of respecting his wishes publicly.

that not be known that he was using a wheelchair. So much drama has unfolded within the White House. And Corey, I can't imagine any room that has seen more of it than probably the Situation Room. In your book, do you describe any episodes that happened there?

Yeah, I do. And it's the most recent episode in the book, and that's the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Obama and his team, you know, watching this mission unfold, they did watch it in real time, but they only had very grainy video footage. So there were all these things that could go wrong, and they also did not have great visibility as to what was actually happening. Here's a famous example.

the two helicopters that were taking the SEALs into the compound where bin Laden was hiding. Obama and his team watching on the screen saw one of the helicopters was supposed to hover over the building and the SEALs were going to rappel down into it. But instead, they watched as it arrived and then abruptly wheeled around and crashed into the ground. So they were horrified. What they didn't know was that the pilot of that helicopter had made a really smart last-minute decision. When he arrived at the compound, he found that his

helicopter wouldn't hover. Apparently the air conditions were different than where they trained at the place in Nevada. So he made this split-second decision to wheel the tail of the helicopter around, intentionally clip the wall of the compound so that it would send the helicopter nose-first into the ground and make a hard landing. If the rotors had hit the ground, it would have sent the helicopter tumbling, could have killed everyone inside. So it was that kind of quick thinking that the SEALs had been trained for. But Obama and the others watching

Back home, had no idea. So the time of the actual raid is unfolded. It was 38 minutes inside the compound. Obama said was the most nervous he'd ever been in his life. And I imagine many of the others felt the same. Now, Kate, you worked in the White House press pool at that time and were at work the next morning. What do you remember about that moment?

Well, I remember the excitement that people felt when it was announced that bin Laden had been killed and, you know, the groups outside the White House with American flags. And it felt like a very cathartic moment for the country. But, you know, this was the day after the White House Correspondents' Dinner. This is when I think it shows the immense ability of presidents and first ladies to keep secrets because they

Obama in 2011 was out joking. It was very lighthearted. And in fact, there was going to be a joke that his speechwriters had put in that was riffing off of his full name, Barack Hussein Obama. And they'd written a bit that referenced bin Laden in kind of a sarcastic way. And they actually struck that reference.

from the joke because, you know, I would just get rid of the bin Laden thing Obama told them because he couldn't tell anybody what was going on, right? And so he had to even to tell his own speech writers who were writing his jokes for the dinner that day, why don't we just not do anything touching that issue? And finally, I'd like to ask you both this question. You've both written about the White House. What is its meaning? It's certainly more than a building. What does it mean to you? Let's start with you, Kate.

I think the White House is the symbol of American democracy. It is a place that belongs to everyone. And it's also the most public private house in the world next to Buckingham Palace. It's our version of Buckingham Palace.

I think it not only symbolizes the hopes for the future of American democracy, but also the trials and tribulations from Nixon's resignation, Kennedy's assassination, the myriad of things that have happened there that are reflected in that House. The House stays the same. You know, the

furniture in the blue room, the green room, the east room. It's pretty much the same as it's been for decades and decades, you know, since the Truman renovation. And so I think that it's fascinating that as the times change around it, the core of the house remains the same. And that says a lot for the stability of American democracy. And what about you, Corey?

Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with everything Kate said about what it represents symbolically. The thing that I was struck with again and again writing the book is the flip side of the symbolic aspect of it, which is its fact as a house, as a residence, and the absolute humanness of this. And that it's the nature of the space that the people that inhabit it are called upon to do extraordinary things in extraordinary times that outside the context of that house exist.

no one would ever encounter, right? You know, whether or not you think that presidents and their families are ordinary people, just like me and you, they are people that, due to the fact of inhabiting that house, are experiencing things that, you know, never before, never since would they have encountered. And it's that combination that I think makes it so fascinating. Well, Corey Mead and Kate Anderson Brower, thank you so much for joining us today on American History Tellers. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you. Thank you.

That was my conversation with Corey Mead and Kate Anderson Brower. Find out more by picking up the book, The Hidden History of the White House, Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments from William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It's available now in hardcover and digital editions wherever you get your books. Next on American History Tellers, in a new two-part series, we explore the life and achievements of one of America's most famous founders, the printer, inventor, diplomat, and revolutionary, Benjamin Franklin.

If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

From Wondery, this has been a special episode of American History Tellers. Thank you so much to our guests, Corey Mead, author of The Hidden History of the White House, and Kate Anderson Brower, who wrote the books forward. Kate's most recent book is the first authorized biography of Elizabeth Taylor. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship.

This episode was produced by Polly Stryker. Senior interview producer is Peter Arcuni. Sound design by Molly Bach. Music by Lindsey Graham. Produced by Alita Rozanski. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. And executive producers are Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Aaron O'Flaherty for Wondery. Hey, it's Guy Raz here, host of How I Built This, a podcast that gives you a front row seat to how some of the best known companies in the world were built.

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