White House Christmas trees through the years (pics)

[SoCalDem]

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy introduced the tradition of Christmas Tree themes in 1961 with a "Nutcracker Suite" theme featuring trimmings derived from the ballet by Tchaikovsky. Ornaments included gingerbread cookies, tiny toys, wrapped packages, candy canes and straw ornaments made by disabled or senior citizen craftsmen throughout the United States.


The 1966 Johnson tree was based on an early American theme
featuring nuts, popcorn, fruit, wood roses from Hawaii,
a paper maché angel and gingerbread cookies.


The 1969 Nixon tree featured velvet and satin balls representing
each of the 50 states made by disabled workers in Florida.
The ornaments were embossed with the flower of each state.


President Herbert Hoover and his family posed in front of the 1931
National Community Christmas Tree. Like many First Ladies,
Lou Hoover was active in community service throughout her life.
When her husband served in the Cabinet,
Mrs. Hoover played the role of Mrs. Santa Claus
at a Washington, D.C. Children's Hospital.


The 1974 Ford tree featured homemade items that emphasized
thrift and recycling. Trimmings included patchwork
and handmade ornaments. Blue moire swags lined
with patchwork encircled the tree.


President Roosevelt delighted in giving gifts, but he rarely opened his
during the holidays. On several occasions, the President left
his gifts unopened for days after the holidays ended.
Two weeks after the end of the holidays in 1941,
a staff member found the President's unopened gifts
in the second-floor sitting room.


The 1977 Carter tree featured trimming made by disabled men and
women of the National Association of Retarded Citizens.
The ornaments were made from nut pods, eggshells, foil,
and painted milkweed pods.



President Truman and his family took a picture in front of the White House
Christmas Tree in 1947. The following year, the White House interior was
undecorated because of the home was undergoing a much-needed remodeling.
The President and Mrs. Truman took up residence at the
Blair House across the street from the White House.



The 1986 Reagan tree featured decorations based on the theme,
Mother Goose Christmas. The trimmings included wooden gingerbread cookie
ornaments, state balls, Christmas card ornaments, soft sculpture miniature geese
and a soft sculpture angel on top. At the base of the tree were
15 soft sculpture scenes of characters from Mother Goose rhymes.


Photo courtesy the Eisenhower Center
The silver-tinseled 1954 Eisenhower Tree was the sight of busy
activity for the President's family. The Eisenhower grandchildren
enjoyed the excitement of opening their presents under this beautiful tree.


The 1991 Bush tree featured needlepoint tree ornaments,
red glass balls, a turn-of-the-century needlepoint village and needlepoint
figurines from Noah's Ark.


The 1998 Clinton tree was based on the theme "A Winter Wonderland."
The tree featured fabric snowmen ornaments, knitted mittens and hats,
and painted wooden ornaments.


The President and Mrs. Bush stand next to the 2001 tree, an 18-foot
Concolor fir that was grown in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.
For ornaments, artists from all 50 states and the District of Columbia
designed miniature replicas of historic houses from their regions.

[Little Wing]

1. They're all a ludicrious waste of energy

especially for these two fuckwads who spent Xmas at Camp David anyway

[SoCalDem]

2. The only tree that looks "real" is the Carter tree

and of course the one outdoors.. The others all look like Mall trees :puke:

[Bluebear]

3. Figures Bush would prefer a "Con color" tree

Thanks for posting these, it really shows how much taste in trees has changed! Looking at the trees of FDR etc. I notice the lead-based tinsel that was all the rage. You never see that anymore!

[SoCalDem]

4. My brother and I would wad them up and throw them at each other

and of course we saved the little cardboard thing they came on to reuse them year after year (the ones that survived)

[Raine]

14. I LOVED the look of the lead tinsel

they gave trees a magical look, trees have never looked as good since they took the stuff off the market. :-(

[Lisa]

5. "foil and painted milkweed pods" -- yep, sounds like our tree

My folks, who survived the Depression, were very thrifty about Christmas. We had a few really old ornaments they'd saved for decades, but a lot of the decorations were put together by me and my mom, from whatever we could find. I didn't make it home this year, but apparently they put the angel I made back around the time of the Carter pic, from goldenrod galls, milkweed pods, and a horse-chestnut, on top of the tree.

[knitter4democracy]

6. I had an ornament on the 1998 tree.

It's hard to see in the picture, though, since it was toward the top. The hat and mitten sets were original designs specially made for the tree by members chosen by their local knitting guild chapters.

The blow-up that year (other than the impeachment scandal) was that we were originally told that the sets, sized for four year olds, would be given to charity. By law, though, the Christmas tree ornaments have to be archived in the Smithsonian. Boy, were there a lot of p.o.'ed knitters that year. It was funny when Hubby and I were taking pictures on our tour, another knitter and I got to talking about it when a White House guy (don't know his name or job) asked us if we were proud to have ornaments on the tree. The knitter I was with lit into him, telling him of all the cold children in D.C. who needed those hats and mittens and how we could've knitted teeny stockings or something else, not wasted good yarn on something that would never be worn. Yeah, he ran as fast as he could. ;) I agreed with her, though, and I still do. All those sets that could've warmed some needy kids are stored in some fancy box somewhere.

[KoKo]

11. Interesting story....kind of sad that they are in the Smithsonian...

agree... Thanks for sharing that, ..it was still an honor though...even if you weren't able to see them donated.

[Raine]

7. Interesting

I enjoyed seeing all those trees...THANKS! :-)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

8. Of the last three First ladies...

Hillary just looks so much more elegant than the other two.
Duckie

[SoCalDem]

9. Betty Ford had style too n/t

[EvangelOphileBlican]

10. Ham na ham na Laura has a rack. nt

[THUNDER HANDS]

12. the Kennedy's had the best tree

Bush and Clinton's both look like giant stacks of pot.

[knitter4democracy]

13. In person, Clinton's was horribly ugly.

They crammed so much stuff on that tree you could barely see any branches. Not only were there tons of ornaments, but then there were these garish balls and garlands that just overloaded the poor thing.