I went on a new tour of the White House. This is what you can see now

When I first took a tour of the White House six years ago, I couldn’t go into the rooms on display. I had to look at the historical images and fancy china from the hall.

For decades, this was the same experience that thousands of tourists had when visiting the presidential building. And there haven’t been any major changes to the tour in years—until now.

First Lady Jill Biden just unveiled a new tour where the rooms are open to the public and there are new interactive elements throughout: videos, digital images and tangible replicas.

So, years after my first visit, I returned to see what had changed.

Standing where history was made

The project to update the tour took two years to prepare.

At the opening, Jill Biden, who has been a teacher for 40 years, said the new tour will be like a museum experience; more exciting and educational.

For visual learners, there is a video of the First Lady greeting tour visitors and another video of President Joe Biden midway through the tour. The rooms and halls feature slideshows of photographs of past presidents, as well as a scale model of the White House.

This 3D model, showing the major renovations the building has undergone over the decades, is one of the First Lady’s favorite parts. Different sections of the model are highlighted as text appears explaining what each update was and when it occurred.

“You may not know this, but the White House did not always have running water and electricity,” she said at the opening ceremony. “So they had to open up the walls to put it in. This is what you will learn on this tour. The rendering tells you the story: who added each part of the house and when.”

One major addition to the tour is a brand new room: the Diplomatic Reception Room, where former President Franklin D. Roosevelt held fireside chats while addressing the American public directly by radio during World War II and the Great Depression.

“You can listen and hear his voice and look into this room and imagine that this is where Roosevelt had these fireside chats, right where I’m standing now,” said Elizabeth Alexander, deputy assistant to the president for public affairs. First Lady’s Director.

On the second floor, you can watch a video of President Biden greeting visitors to the East Room. The Great Hall is decorated with portraits of George and Martha Washington, but otherwise appears as a large empty hallway with no furniture.

Alexander points out the new signage and reader rails added to each part of the tour, explaining their history.

“Now, with the signs in front of them, people will know that they stand exactly where President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” she said. “Before this, people walked around the East Room and did not know what happened exactly where they were standing at that moment.”

Something similar will happen in the Blue Room, one of the living room rooms. There, back in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln greeted visitors hours before heading to his office to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Before, people didn’t know this. They walked around the Blue Room and admired the setting, admired the beautiful view of the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Monument that you see. But they may not have realized exactly what happened in that room throughout history,” Alexander said.

Finally, tactile items have been added throughout. For example, in the Green Room, Alexander points out a tea or coffee urn that is almost 240 years old.

“It was torn off with a rope because it belonged to John and Abigail Adams. But what you can do is feel a copy of it,” she said. “I have two boys who want to touch everything in every museum we ever go to. And now they will be encouraged to do this.”

The Biden administration worked with the White House Historical Association, the National Park Service and the History Channel, which provided funding.

Alexander said the collaboration helped improve the tour while preserving history. And, she says, it’s an ongoing project.

“Presidents, whoever they are, are only temporary residents of this house. And this is truly the people’s house,” she said. “And so this tour, this public tour and elements of it will adapt and change as presidents change, as our country changes.”

What remains the same is the process of booking one of these tours. The White House guides Americans book it through its members of Congress.

Copyright: NPR 2024