While the “war” was bloodless, forces were raised on both sides, making clear a pressing need to define the border. Eventually, the situation heated into a conflict known as the Aroostook War. In the first decades of the 19th century, an expanding population in northern Maine led to competitive friction between rival groups of loggers in Maine and New Brunswick. The 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War left certain sections of the boundary between the United States and Canada undefined. The President soon approved the purchase of Blair House-which included the Blair family’s furniture, china and silver-and the President’s Guest House was in business.įind the whole story in the free eBook, To Be Preserved for All Time: The Major and the President Save Blair House. He met Eleanor first, however, who firmly persuaded him to wait until breakfast. Winston Churchill’s frequent trips to Washington helped convince President Franklin Roosevelt of the need for official diplomatic housing.įranklin Roosevelt, Jr., recalls the morning his mother found the prime minister wandering towards the family’s private quarters at 3 a.m., trademark cigar in hand, to rouse the sleeping president for more conversation. Previously, guests of the president customarily spent a night in the White House, followed by a hotel or embassy for the remainder of their visit. The United States Government purchased Blair House in 1942 at the urging of President Franklin Roosevelt when the need for diplomacy grew apace with the American military role in the Second World War. This home, known as Lee House, is now an integral part of the Blair House complex. In 1859, Francis Preston Blair built a home at 1653 Pennsylvania Avenue, next to Blair House, for his daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee. Abraham Lincoln also sought Blair’s counsel during his presidency and appointed Blair's eldest son, Montgomery, to his cabinet as Postmaster General. He was the most influential member of President Jackson's informal group of advisors, the “Kitchen Cabinet,” and remained an important confidant to Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren. Many political players, including presidents, sought his insight. It would soon become known as Blair House.Īs editor of the Globe and the Congressional Globe (the first published proceedings of Congress) with partner John Cook Rives, Blair acquired a good deal of political power. Joseph Lovell, the first surgeon general of the U.S. Seven years later, they took up residence in the former home of Dr. newspaper, into a pro-administration publication, and in 1830, Blair, his wife Eliza, and their three children moved to the nation's capital. Jackson invited Blair to convert the Globe, a failing D.C. It is one of only five houses to serve as the presidential residence in the history of the United States, and one of only three (along with the White House and The Octagon House) that still stand.Built in 1824, Blair House became politically central in Washington, D.C., the moment the Blair family took up residence in 1837.įrancis Preston Blair was a circuit court clerk from Frankfort, Kentucky, whose editorials in his local newspaper attracted President Andrew Jackson’s attention. Truman survived a 1950 assassination attempt at Blair House. Truman and his family lived in the original Blair House from late November 1948, to March 27, 1952, during the White House Reconstruction. Blair House is one of several residences owned by the United States government for use by the president and vice president of the United States other such residences include the White House, Camp David, One Observatory Circle, the Presidential Townhouse, and Trowbridge House. It now has 14 guest bedrooms and at 70,000 square feet (6,500 m 2 ) is larger than the executive residence of the White House. Major renovations of these 19th-century residences between the 1950s and 1980s joined the homes together. Located just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, it is a complex of four formerly separate homes-Blair House, Lee House, Peter Parker House, and 704 Jackson Place. Mendel, Mesick, Cohen, Waite, Hall Architects (1982 merger of four existing structures) Victorian (Peter Parker House and 704 Jackson Place) Location of the President's Guest House in Washington, D.C.
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