Description:

Truman Harry 1884 - 1972 President Truman discusses his current renovations of the White House as well as his rejected attempts "to put a new dome on the old Capitol"


Typed Letter Signed "Harry S. Truman" as President, 2pp, 7" x 9", conjoined separate sheets. The White House, Washington, January 20, 1948. To George Rothwell Brown, Washington correspondent of the "Boston Herald." Light spotting on second page. Fine condition.

In part, "I knew about the difficulty Andrew Jackson had with the Pennsylvania Avenue front of The White House and they had almost exactly the same trouble when they put the new columns on the south porch ... For the last few years they have had awnings on the south porch which covered up the windows and put the beautiful columns out of proportion. The awnings were also exceedingly dirty and were impossible to keep clean. Every year we had to buy a new set of awnings ... In my walks in the morning when I'd approach The White House from the south the dirty awnings obstructed the view of those beautiful columns on the south porch...

"It was decided to put a new dome on the old Capitol, which is built of red sandstone, move the east portico out in conformity with the north and south wings and veneer the sandstone and the dome with marble. We succeeded in getting a project of that sort through the Senate but two or three Congressmen went out and made a campaign, such as the one they are making on this portico, and defeated the project. As you know, the Capitol dome is one of the three great domes in the world-the other two are on St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London, Michelangelo being one architect and Sir Christopher Wren the other ... I wonder if we ought to put the green shutters back on The White House and take out all the bath tubs!" Exclamation point handwritten by Truman.

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