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White House Through the Years

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• Today's expanded West Wing is very similar to the 1902 "temporary" executive office building. After 100 years, the West Wing has transformed the grounds of the White House and the presidency.
• Roosevelt's temporary office building was built on the west side of the White House. This one-story structure housed the President's office, the Cabinet Room and other offices. Today this building is known as the West Wing.
• Dec. 21, 2006: Library in the White House residence.
• Nov. 13, 2001: President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk out to address the media in White House cross hall.
• October 2, 1975: President Gerald Ford and Mrs. Ford escort Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako down cross hall red carpet prior to a state dinner.
• September 5, 2001: Leading their wives in the first dance of the evening, Presidents Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox take to the floor during the state dinner.
• November 9, 1985: Britain's Princess Diana dances with actor John Travolta at a White House dinner.
• June 7, 2001: Joined by members of Congress and 15 American families in the East Room, President George W. Bush signs the Tax Relief Act, which provides Americans with across-the-board tax cuts.
• November 1, 1961: Former President Harry Truman tickles the ivories for President and Mrs. Kennedy in the East Room.
• May 8, 1961: Jacqueline Kennedy greets the wives of astronauts, America's newest heroes and explorers, in the Green Room.
• November 25, 1960: Mamie Eisenhower poses with her sister and two nieces in the Green Room for their debut party.
• October 30, 1992: Barbara Bush and her dog, Millie, are interviewed in the Green Room by Paula Zahn for CBS This Morning.
• May 2, 2002: A White House usher prepares the Blue Room for a luncheon for the European Commission.
• February 26, 1990: President George H.W. Bush holds a meeting with the nation's governors in the Blue Room.
• Ferns and blue drapes decorated the Blue Room during the Herbert Hoover administration, 1929-1933. Nearly a century before, the Blue Room received its name from President Martin Van Buren.
• April 17, 2002: Before a performance by Eugene Kohn on the White House Steinway piano, Laura Bush hosts an arts discussion called an "operalogue" in the Red Room. The Red Room was Dolley Madison's music room and housed her piano and guitar.
• With her brother-in-law Edward Kennedy at her side, Jacqueline Kennedy greets guests in the Red Room following the funeral for her husband, President John Kennedy.
• January 16, 1992: President George H.W. Bush talks with General Colin Powell, during a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Red Room. General Powell later served as Secretary of State during President George W. Bush's first term.
• Sept. 5, 2001: Laura Bush lights the candles for the administration's first state dinner, which welcomed Mexican President Vicente Fox and 136 guests. Before the 1902 renovation, the State Dining Room was 30 percent smaller and only able to accommodate 40 guests for dinner.
• Dec. 18, 1902: President Theodore Roosevelt's State Dining Room was baronial style and featured stuffed moose and elk heads on the walls. In contrast, the first cabinet dinner in this room on featured pink roses and candles.
• President and Mrs. Eisenhower are all smiles as they host a 1960 Christmas Party in the State Dining Room.
• Sept. 12, 2001: President George W. Bush meets with Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and the other members of the National Security Council in the Cabinet Room following the terrorist attacks.
• May 20, 1943: President Franklin Roosevelt meets with the members of the Pacific War Council in the Cabinet Room.
• Dec. 20, 2001: President George W. Bush hosts a meeting with senior advisers in the newly-renovated Oval Office, which includes a specially-designed wool rug featuring the Presidential coat of arms. The color scheme of the first Oval Office, built in 1909 during the Taft Administration, was olive green.
• While working at his desk in the Oval Office, which he had moved to its current location in 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt meets with Marguerite Le Hand, his personal secretary.
• February 29, 1956: As television producers and photographers make final adjustments on camera angles and sound in the Oval Office, President Eisenhower prepares to announce his decision to run for re-election.
• July 11, 2007: President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the newly renovated James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
• April 17, 1970: President Richard Nixon talks with reporters in the new Press Briefing Room. The room was built over the site of Franklin Roosevelt's swimming pool.
• August 14, 1945: Reporters jump over tables in the White House to pick up press releases about the Japanese surrender.
• June 6, 2002: President George W. Bush meets with his Homeland Security Council and other senior staff members in the Roosevelt Room to discuss the Department of Homeland Security.
• August 9, 1974: President Ford meets with Middle-Eastern Ambassadors in the Roosevelt Room shortly after his inauguration as the 38th President of the United States. Ford's predecessor, Richard Nixon, gave the room its name in 1969 to honor Theodore Roosevelt for constructing the West Wing and Franklin Roosevelt for expanding it.
• March 28, 1977: President Jimmy Carter meets with members of his Economic Policy Group in the Roosevelt Room. Named the Fish Room during Franklin Roosevelt's administration, this rectangular conference room originally displayed the president's fishing mementos.