In February 1841 President-elect William Henry Harrison arrived during a snowstorm at the Baltimore and Ohio railway station near the US Capitol. The first president to arrive at an inaugural by train, his inauguration also marked the first time an…

On July 2, 1881, a deranged Charles Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station. Guiteau was an unsuccessful lawyer, evangelist, and insurance salesman, who thought that the President owed him a government…

President Calvin Coolidge's inauguration was the first to be broadcast live over the radio. The microphones are visible in this photograph as a row of circles at the level of the President's head. Approximately 23 million Americans listened to the…

After weeks of wet weather, thousands of spectators and participants trudged through the mud along Pennsylvania Avenue for President Abraham Lincoln's second Inauguration. This inaugural parade was the first to include African Americans as…

Andrew Jackson campaigned for President as a "man of the people." In keeping with this image, he opened the White House to the public following his inauguration in March 1829. The public reception unfortunately turned into a rowdy mob, breaking…

On January 20, 1981 Ronald Reagan became the first President to be inaugurated facing the National Mall. Before this time Inaugurations were held on the East Portico of the US Capitol, facing the Supreme Court. When the inauguration ceremony moved to…

On June 25, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 which prohibited racial and other discrimination in the defense industry. The Executive Order was a partial response by the White House to a planned march by African American…

The Eisenhower Memorial is a proposed monument to the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The proposed monument site is located on the south side of Independence Avenue, directly across from the National Air and Space Museum.…

During the Civil War, Mall grounds were used to quarter troops and house a hospital for the wounded. Union soldiers frequently paraded in the vicinity. In this picture, President Abraham Lincoln and General Winfield Scott review a regiment of Union…

Thomas Jefferson worked with President George Washington to advocate that the nation's capitol be situated on the banks of the Potomac. His sketch of a layout for the federal city is the oldest known plan of Washington, DC, and he shared his ideas…