WASHINGTON (AP) — Betty Ford reportedly said that if the West Wing of the White House is the “spirit” of the nation, then the East Wing — the established center of power for first ladies — is the “heart.”
That “heart” beat for more than 100 years, as First Ladies and their teams worked from their East Wing offices on everything from combating drug abuse to promoting literacy to beautifying and preserving the White House itself. Here they planned White House state dinners and brainstormed the sophisticated themes that are a hallmark of the U.S. holiday season.
That story ended after demolition crews demolished the wing’s two floors of offices and reception rooms last week. There is no on-site movie theater and no covered walkway to the White House that has been captured in so many photos over the years. An east wing garden dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy was also uprooted, photos show.
Republican President Donald Trump ordered the demolition as part of his yet-to-be-approved plan to build a $300 million ballroom.
The former real estate developer has long been fixated on building a grand ballroom in the White House. In 2010, he called a top aide to Democratic President Barack Obama and offered to build one. Trump made no secret of his distaste for the practice of holding elegant state dinners at the White House under tents on the South Lawn. The offer was not pursued further.
Now in his second term, Trump is seeking to make his desire for what he calls a “grand legacy project” a reality. He has tried to justify the demolition of the East Wing and his plans for the ballroom by pointing out that some of his predecessors also expanded the White House over the years.
First ladies and their staff witnessed history in the East Wing, a “place of convenience and service,” said Anita McBride, who worked there as chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush.
“Tearing down those walls does not diminish the importance of the work we did there,” McBride told The Associated Press.
McBride said she supported expanding the ballroom because the “large and expensive tent option” used when guest lists were longer than could comfortably be accommodated in the White House was “unsustainable.” Tents damaged lawns and required the installation of additional infrastructure, such as outdoor toilets and trolleys, to move people, especially in inclement weather, she said.
Others feel differently.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, first lady Michelle Obama’s political director, said the demolition was a “symbolic blow” to the East Wing’s legacy as a place where women made history.
“The East Wing was this physical space where the role of the first lady had evolved from a social hostess to an influential advocate on a range of issues,” she said in an interview.
Here’s a look at the history of the East Wing and the first ladies who spent time there:
Rosalynn Carter
She was the first first lady to have her own office in the East Wing. Most first ladies before Carter had worked in the private living quarters on the second or third floors of the residence. Carter wanted a place where she could separate work and home.
“I always need a private place where I don’t have to dress or put on makeup,” she wrote in her memoir. “The First Lady’s staff offices were always in the East Wing, and it seemed like a perfect location for my office, too.”
In her memoir, Carter wrote about her favorite route to her office during the winter months. She walked through the basement, past laundry rooms and workshops and the bomb shelter reserved for the president and his staff. Because of President Jimmy Carter’s energy conservation program, the thermostats in the residence above had been set to the lowest setting, making the East Wing so cool that she was forced to wear long underwear.
The underground passage, which was shown to her by a dormitory staff member, gave her relief. “With Jimmy’s energy conservation program, it was the only truly warm place in the White House with large steam pipes running overhead,” the first lady wrote.
Nancy Reagan
Photos from the East Wing from the early 1980s show the first lady meeting with staff, including her press secretary Sheila Tate. For a generation of Americans, Nancy Reagan was most closely associated with a single phrase: “Just say no” to the anti-drug abuse program that she made a hallmark of her White House tenure.
As Reagan once recalled, the idea for the campaign came about during a 1982 visit to schoolchildren in Oakland, California. “A little girl raised her hand and said, ‘Mrs. Reagan, what do you do if someone offers you drugs?’ And I said, “Well, just say no.” And that’s where it was born.”
Hillary Clinton
Clinton defied history by becoming the first first lady to insist that her office be located in the West Wing rather than the East Wing. In her memoirs, Clinton wrote that she wanted her staff to be “physically” integrated into the president’s team. The First Lady’s office moved to what is now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, while Clinton was assigned an office on the second floor of the West Wing.
“This was another unprecedented event in White House history and quickly became fodder for late-night comedians and political pundits,” Clinton later wrote.
Laura Bush
Bush wrote in her memoirs about what it was like in the White House after the September 11 attacks. Most of her staff, then in their 20s, “took off their high heels and fled the East Wing” after being told to “run for their lives” when the White House was reportedly a target.
“Now they were being asked to go back to work in a building that everyone saw as a target for a presidency and a country at war,” she wrote.
Michelle Obama
Obama was the first black woman to serve as first lady and became a global role model and style icon, promoting better nutrition for children with her “Let’s Move” initiative. She and her East Wing staff also worked to support military families and promote higher education for girls in developing countries.
Photos from the time show Obama typing on a laptop during an online chat about school nutrition and the White House garden she created.
Melania Trump
Trump overstepped the bounds of his tenure as first lady by not living in the White House during the early months of Donald Trump’s first term. She stayed in New York with her son Barron, who was then school-aged, so that he wouldn’t have to change schools in the middle of the year. When she eventually moved to the White House, she and her East Wing staff launched an initiative called “Be Best,” focused on child welfare, opioid abuse and online safety.
Jill Biden
Biden was the first first lady to pursue her career outside the White House. The longtime community college English professor taught twice a week while serving as first lady. But in her work in the East Wing, she advocated for military families; Her overdue father and son Beau served in the military. Biden also committed to finding a cure for cancer and secured millions of dollars in federal funding for research into women’s health.
