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Critically acclaimed author Robert Klara leads readers through an unmatched tale of political ambition and technical skill: the Truman administration's controversial rebuilding of the White House.
In 1948, President Harry Truman, enjoying a bath on the White House's second floor, almost plunged through the ceiling of the Blue Room into a tea party for the Daughters of the American Revolution. A handpicked team of the country's top architects conducted a secret inspection of the troubled mansion and, after discovering it was in imminent danger of collapse, insisted that the First Family be evicted immediately. What followed would be the most historically significant and politically complex home-improvement job in American history. While the Trumans camped across the street at Blair House, Congress debated whether to bulldoze the White House completely, and the Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb, starting the Cold War.
Indefatigable researcher Robert Klara reveals what has, until now, been little understood about this episode: America's most famous historic home was basically demolished, giving birth to today's White House. Leaving only the mansion's facade untouched, workmen gutted everything within, replacing it with a steel frame and a complex labyrinth deep below ground that soon came to include a top-secret nuclear fallout shelter,
The story of Truman's rebuilding of the White House is a snapshot of postwar America and its first Cold War leader, undertaking a job that changed the centerpiece of the country's national heritage. The job was by no means perfect, but it was remarkable—and, until now, all but forgotten.
- Sales Rank: #124585 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-10-22
- Released on: 2013-10-22
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
By 1949, according to Klara, the White House was in an advanced state of decrepitude. Wooden beams were rotting, floors were dangerously unstable, some timbers had scorch marks from the British burning during the War of 1812, and the foundation was sinking at an accelerated rate. So a three-year renovation project was launched, which basically gutted the interior while keeping the façade intact. In this gossipy, sometimes amusing, sometimes irritating account, Klara describes how the interior arrived at its present form. Characters, famous and relatively obscure, flit in and out of the narrative, creating frequently humorous situations. Klara writes with a strong sense of the ironic, and he is careful to point out that more substantive world events were going on under Truman’s watch. This is a light, generally enjoyable look at a historical sideshow. --Jay Freeman
Review
“Robert Klara's The Hidden White House will give you unique insight into the building our presidents live and work in. A tour de force narrative, this detailed history will give you a one-of-a-kind look into America's most famous house.” ―Newt Gingrich, New York Times bestselling author of Victory at Yorktown
“Robert Klara brings the White House--its occupants, its rooms, even its swinging chandeliers--vividly to life in this gripping work of history. The book is rich with historical and architectural detail, and Klara, a brilliant storyteller, shows us why Truman's plan to restore the White House was an act not only of necessity, but of audacity.” ―Jeff Shesol, former speechwriter to President Bill Clinton and author of Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court
“Robert Klara has crafted an unexpected and captivating story of the overhaul of America's most famous residence. While every first family lends its own personal touch to the White House, it is usually in the form of china patterns and drapes. President Truman, on the other hand, had the place gutted―because it was threatening to collapse around him. From bathtubs to bomb shelters, Klara leaves no piece of crumbling sandstone unturned and is as astute a storyteller as he is a dogged researcher. His efforts have resulted in a rich and layered look at this unique episode in American history. Hidden White House is populated by complicated and quirky characters but Klara wisely saves the spotlight for the real star, The White House herself, as she narrowly escapes annihilation. We can be thankful she survived, imperfections and all, and that Klara has brought her story to light.” ―Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of Girls of Atomic City
“Money troubles, war with congress, fights with patriotic societies, an attempted assassination of the President, the building of an atom bomb shelter, lost contents – the saga of the gutting and recreation of the "Great White Jail" that is the nation's White House is as dramatic as was Truman's presidency. In Robert Klara's riveting yet scholarly account it becomes no less than the story of America, as the U.S. becomes the world's foremost superpower – with the reconstructed White House its symbolic and literal heart.” ―Nigel Hamilton, author, American Caesars: Lives of the Presidents, From Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush
“A delightful and informative narrative… Klara brings the reconstruction’s major players―including Truman and his family, architect Lorenzo Winslow, and contractor John McShain―to life in sharp prose, infusing this cracks-and-crevices expose with plenty of entertaining drama.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Robert Klara has proven the old adage to be true -- if walls could speak what stories they would tell! Ghosts. Diplomats. Washington backscratching. The Hidden White House has it all in a fabulous romp across the landscape of American history as viewed through the prism of our most iconic residence. Hats off to Klara! A beautifully written book filled with quirky characters and amazing stories.” ―L. Douglas Keeney, author of 15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation
“There's a story that when Ronald Reagan first arrived at the White House, he asked to see the ‘War Room,' presuming it looked just like the screen version from Dr. Strangelove. Which is to say, we all have our fantasies about the hidden life behind the stately white columns of America's most famous home--most of them false. Robert Klara's entertaining secret history of White House tells how it became the place we think we know but don't, proving the adage that truth can be stranger than fiction.” ―Mark Lamster, architecture critic, Dallas Morning News
“Robert Klara's The Hidden White House serves as a landmark study of the post-World War II redefinition of America's premier residence. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this book casts deserved new attention on a favorite subject, highlighting the masterful walking of the fine line between preserving an historic shrine and fabricating a modern fortress and television-ready backdrop. Whether historian, architect, or homeowner (fresh from the throes of your own renovation), The Hidden White House affords an entertaining history lesson.” ―James Archer Abbott, director and curator, Johns Hopkins University's Evergreen Museum and Library; author of Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration
“Gossipy… Characters, famous and relatively obscure, flit in and out of the narrative, creating frequently humorous situations…. Enjoyable.” ―Booklist
“Klara's focused history will intrigue architectural history enthusiasts along with presidential history buffs and others who will appreciate a part of White House history that has been forgotten by many.” ―Library Journal
“In the manner of Bob Greene's Once Upon a Town or Jody Rosen's White Christmas . . . Klara charms as he informs. A little gem.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred) on FDR's Funeral Train
“Klara has put together a thrilling piece of history. . . . [he] has managed to provide a fresh look at history as well as the political landscape of the twenty–first century.” ―The Daily Beast on FDR's Funeral Train
“Full of fascinating anecdotes. . . . This is popular history at its best: engaging, informative and insightful. It is very well written and . . . a pure pleasure to read . . . sheds welcome light on a fascinating and largely forgotten episode.” ―Christian Science Monitor on FDR's Funeral Train
About the Author
ROBERT KLARA is the author of the critically acclaimed 2010 book FDR's Funeral Train, which historian and author Douglas Brinkley called "a major new contribution to U.S. history." Klara has been a staff editor for several magazines including Adweek, Town & Country and Architecture. His freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, American Heritage, and The Christian Science Monitor, among other publications. Klara makes his home in New York City.
Most helpful customer reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
What a History Should Be
By Js
For the general reader, I would recommend that you give this book a try. And a stronger recommendation for those particularly interested in architecture, construction, the history of the building, and history in general. Robert Klara has obviously spent many many hours unearthing names and facts available in widely disparate and, I would imagine, obscure sources, and served them up deliciously. He loves his subject, which helps immensely when your subject is "simply" a renovation.
Many historians pile all the facts they have lovingly unearthed onto the plate and leave you to do the writing in your head. Klara sets the jewels of his facts into a setting of the Truman administration: the Cold War, atomic fears, the re-election, the Korean War, the Blaire House assassination attempt... and does it with fluid and clear syntax.
The amazingly deplorable and even dangerous condition of the White House was a secret, and Klara explains why. How could painstakingly removed and cataloged carvings, furniture, and panels end up in landfill? You learn the answer as Klara convincingly recreates the pressures and practicalities facing poor, besieged main contractor John McShain, the man who also built the Pentagon. You discover that in some sense the Commission on Renovation made the renovation worse, and that President Truman (brought to life on these pages) also made decisions that sabotaged the work even as he spearheaded the effort and cut through bureaucratic dithering.
I was 150 pages into the book on my first sit-down. You learn of the Crumbling, the Studies, The Politics, the Bureaucracy (exasperating and foolish), the Logistics, the Work, the tragedies of lost antiques, and even the Decoration. Of course at first I skimmed the decoration stories but the author's description were so full of juice and big personalities that I read every page.
You find out that the I-beams making up the skeleton of the structure could hold up a skyscraper, let alone a 3 story building. Contractor McShain suffers the angst of so many highly competent contractors given a difficult job by impossible-to-please multiple, ungrateful bosses (Truman, the Commission, and Congress) pulling in multiple directions. I would have liked more details on the HVAC system, the concrete, and the technicalities, but that is just me.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the interior of the gutted White House, and learned as much as we are allowed to about the bomb shelter (not much).
If you want more, there are NINETY pages of end notes. These could make a book in themselves, but are evidence the Klara the Historian was subordinate to Klara the Storyteller; he knows you can't stuff everything into your narrative. Regard these as "deleted scenes" that are still worth dipping into.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
History, mystery, humor and high-drama...
By Cynthia K. Robertson
The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence by Robert Klara is a terrific book that includes history, mystery, humor and lots of high drama. One would be hard pressed to write a novel that is so absorbing.
The President's House, the Peoples' House, or the White House--whatever name you use, was literally falling down by the time Harry S. Truman moved in upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. This didn't happen all at once. The White House was rebuilt after the British torched it in the War of 1812. Subsequent renovations added too much weight to the structure. Since the interior walls were not footed on solid ground, the building was slowly sinking. And on top of everything, between the Depression and World War II, FDR spent barely a cent on the maintenance and upkeep of his home. The standing joke was that FDR lived in the "Off White House." By the time Truman moved in, chandeliers were swaying, floors were rocking, and the building was making a racket that sounded like the work of ghosts. When the leg of daughter Margaret's piano fell through the floor of her bedroom, it became obvious that the White House was an unsafe place to live.
Klara provides a thoroughly engaging and fascinating tale of just how the White House was rebuilt. As with all DC tales, this one includes intrigue, fighting, money, egos, and as always, politics. It took months just to determine whether the building should be razed or rebuilt. Once the decision was made to rebuild, so many factors influenced the work. The Korean War drove up prices of materials and lead to cost overruns. When it was discovered that the USSR was testing nuclear weapons, it was decided to add a bomb shelter to the basement, which set back work even further. Cost overruns and delayed schedules caused contractors to cut corners, which greatly altered the original plans. Instead of replacing the 48 historic interiors that were removed, only 4 rooms were actually replaced with the original interiors. The Senate and Congress fought over how much money should be allotted for the job (some things never change). Truman's firing of General MacArthur was an unpopular move and congress expressed their disapproval by being stingy with White House renovation funds. And at the end, there was so little money left that the interiors were filled with cheap, furniture reproductions. Interior colors were chosen not because they were authentic but because Bess Truman liked them. Afterward, a White House curator called the renovation "'one of the greatest disasters in White House history.'" The Hidden White House is better than fiction--you can't make up this stuff.
The Hidden White House is also filled with interesting information and anecdotes. For instance, Eleanor Roosevelt urged the nation to purchase Blair House for visiting dignitaries when she got tired of Winston Churchill's antics and drinking during extended White House stays. The Blair House ended up being Truman's home during the extended renovation. Also, the Truman Balcony was built in an effort to keep Bess Truman in Washington during the summer. It didn't work. There are also many unsolved mysteries. The Bomb Shelter is still a big secret and the plans are still classified. Also, whatever happened to all those historic interiors that were never used? Most likely, they're in a landfill at a military base, but those who might know are no longer living.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Hidden White House and my only complaint is that my Vine book does not have the 16-page insert of photographs that the finished book will have. For that reason, I intend to purchase the book when it is officially published. It's that good.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent look at a small part of history.
By Jill Meyer
In 1948, after winning his come-from-behind election victory to a full term as President, Harry Truman was told by a government administrator, "Mr President, I am going to do something to you that the Republicans couldn't. I am going to move you out of the White House." And so it was that for most of his full term in office, ending in 1953, Harry and Bess Truman resided in Blair-Lee House, across the street from the White House. The government couldn't take the chance that the White House - that crumbling edifice - would fall down around the President.
There had been "threats", "rumblings", and odd noises in the White House for years. Several great chandeliers on the second floor had threatened to collapse for years. The floors/ceilings were buckling under the weight of the building as previous renovations had casually removed bearing walls. The ground the White House was build on was also sinking. Since a new roof had been put on the building by Calvin Coolidge, no structural work had been done to shore up the 130 year old building. "The People's House" was a wreck by 1945. Historian Robert Klara has written an excellent book on the problems - structural, politically, and financially - and how the White House was restored to its former beauty. (At least on the outside. While work was done on the inside by first the Trumans and then the Eisenhowers, who can forget First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's disdain for the interior when she moved in in 1961?)
Robert Klara is a masterful writer - a very "easy", fluid writer - and "The Hidden White House" is an engaging look at the White House-through-the-years. But, of course, the "years" he mostly concentrates on are the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and onward as the White House crumbled around its occupants. When the problems became too apparent - by 1947 - Truman engaged government agencies in an attempt to rebuild the White House. Washington agencies have been fighting each other for two hundred years and the officials all wanted to be prime movers behind the renovations. Several private companies were also brought in to oversee both the reconstruction and the refurbishing of the interior. Klara moves between all these factions and points out that Harry Truman took a personal interest in the project, and, in some ways, worked almost as the "contractor" on the project.
Klara also examines Blair House, where the Trumans lived for almost four years and where an assassination attempt took place. (For another historical glimpse of Blair House and its history, look for Benedicte Valentiner's engaging book, "Bedtime and Other Stories from the President's Guest House", also available on Amazon.)
Robert Klara's book about Truman and the reconstruction of the White House is an important look at a small bit of American history.
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