West Wing

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The West Wing of the White House houses the office of President of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room.

The West Wing's four floors contain offices for the White House Chief of Staff, Counsel for the President, Senior Advisor to the President, the White House Press Secretary, and their support staff. The Vice President - whose main office is located next to the Eisenhower Executive Office building - also has offices in the building. Adjacent to the office of the press secretary, in the colonnade between the West Wing and the Executive Residence is James S. Brady's Short Press Room along with the workspace for the White House press corps.

Video West Wing

History

Prior to West Wing's construction, the presidential staff worked on the western end of the second floor which is now the Executive Residence. However, when Theodore Roosevelt became president, he found that the offices in the mansion were not sufficient to accommodate his family of six children and his staff.

A year later in 1902, First Lady Edith Roosevelt hired McKim, Meade & amp; White to separate the residence from the office, to enlarge and modernize the public space, to create a landscape again, and to redecorate the interior. Congress approved more than half a million dollars for renovation.

The West Wing was originally intended as a temporary office structure, built on the location of greenhouses and spacious stables. The Presidential Office and Cabinet Space occupy the eastern third of the building closest to the Residence and the terraced terrace. Roosevelt rectangular office with an adjacent Cabinet Room through a set of double doors located approximately where the Roosevelt Room is now near the center.

In 1909, William Howard Taft expanded the building to the south, covering the tennis court. He placed the first Oval Office in the center of the southern facade summation, reminiscent of an oval room on three floors of the White House. Then, at the beginning of his presidency, Herbert Hoover rebuilt the West Wing, dug up some of the basement, and supported it with structural steel. But the construction is completed lasting less than seven months. On December 24, 1929, the West Wing was heavily damaged by an electric fire. Hoover rebuilt it, and added air conditioning.

The fourth and final major reorganization took place less than three years later by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Unsatisfied with the size and layout of President Hoover's West Wing, he involves the New York architect Eric Gugler to redesign in 1933. To create additional space without increasing the size of the real building, Gugler dug a full cellar, adding a set of underground offices under the adjacent grass, and build an unobtrusive "penthouse" story. Referrals for extorting most office space from existing buildings are responsible for narrow corridors and narrow office staff. The most important change of Gugler is the addition to the east side containing the new Cabinet Room, the Secretary Office, and the Oval Office. The location of the new office gave the president a greater privacy, allowing them to sneak back and forth between the White House and the West Wing without being in the presence of the staff.

As the size of the presidential staff grew during the second half of the 20th century, the West Wing was generally considered too small for the functioning of its modern government. Currently, most of the staff members of the President's Executive Office are located in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Maps West Wing

First Floor

Oval Office

Cabinet Room

Roosevelt Room

Richard Nixon also changed the name of the room, formerly called Franklin Roosevelt, "The Fish Room" (where he kept the aquarium, and where John F. Kennedy displayed a trophy fish) in honor of both President Roosevelt: Theodore, who first built the West Wing, and Franklin, who built the Oval Office today. Traditionally, Franklin Roosevelt's portrait hangs on a shelf in the Roosevelt Room during the reign of a Democratic president and the portrait of Theodore Roosevelt hangs during the reign of a Republican president (although Bill Clinton chose to keep Theodore Roosevelt's portrait on the mantelpiece. which was not hanging above the fireplace hanging on the opposite wall.However, during George W. Bush's first term, an audio-visual cabinet placed on the opposite wall provided secure audio and visual conference capabilities across the hall from the Oval Office.

Press Briefing Room

During the 1930s, the March of Dimes built a pool so that Franklin Roosevelt could exercise, as a therapy for his polio-related disability. Richard Nixon has an enclosed swimming pool to create a Press Release Room, where the White House Press Secretary provides daily briefing.

White House press corps

Correspondents, journalists, and others who are part of the White House press corps have offices near the press room.

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Ground Floor

Situation Space

White House Messages

The lower floor of the West Wing is also a cafeteria location, run by Navy culinary specialists and called the White House Mess. Located under the Oval Office, and established by President Truman on June 11, 1951.

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Second Floor

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Portrait on West Wing TV series

In 1999, the West Wing television series brought greater public attention to the workings of the presidential staff, as well as to the location of those working in the West Wing. The event follows the working life of a fictitious American president, Josiah Bartlet, and his senior staff. When asked whether the show accurately captured the working environment in 2003, Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented that the show depicted more pedestrian traffic and larger rooms than in the actual West Wing.

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References

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External links

• White House Museum: West Wing, with floor plans and historical drawings
• West Wing Interactive, from National Journal Magazine

Source of the article : Wikipedia