From the Roosevelts to the Kennedys: A Look Back at the White House East Wing
The East Wing had been a base for the first lady, an entryway for social functions and an emergency bunker.The East Wing of the White House, which will be torn down by this weekend to make way for President Trump’s new ballroom, has been a formal entryway, the site of social functions and a base for the first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt’s time.
The two-story wing, whose demolition has provoked outrage and alarmed historians and architects, was built under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, when it was called the East Terrace, and then rebuilt during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency to conceal a new underground emergency bunker. It also housed additional White House staff and offices and provided an entrance for guests during events.
As media attention on the first lady exploded during the Kennedy era, Jacqueline Kennedy expanded her East Wing operations to include a press secretary and other staff. An office formally dedicated to the first lady was planned under Betty Ford and opened under Rosalynn Carter in 1977, according to the White House Historical Association.
“Betty Ford had the best quote for how special the East Wing is: ‘If the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart,” Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to Laura Bush when she was first lady, told East Wing Magazine. “The walls may be gone, but those East Wing stories must be preserved and shared for future generations.”