A historian emailed me this morning fresh off a return trip from Europe, where she says even people there were in shock over the rubble that remains of the White House East Wing.
And while there’s been a lot of criticism of the outrage over this week’s demolition of the 1902 structure built during the Theodore Roosevelt administration that ultimately housed the Office of the First Lady in 1977 when former First Lady Rosalynn Carter carved out the space for future first ladies, it’s for an obvious reason.
It’s sad.
Even if there are other legitimate reasons for creating a ballroom that President Donald Trump wants to build—initial concept renderings depicted a proposed 90,000-square-foot event space—it can also be true that the history inside the East Wing of the White House was a history of shared experiences between the American public and the first family, particularly the first lady.
It was a history that evolved, notably, as the Women’s Movement unfolded. It began with early suffrage advocates of the mid-1800s and extended to the passage of the 19th Amendment by Congress on June 4, 1919—ratified on August 18, 1920—granting women the right to vote. A second wave of feminism in the mid-1970s was supported by First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford who worked for the common cause of passing the Equal Rights Amendment that was written to end legal distinction between people based on their sex. Today, its ratification is still debated. But, the ascension of the first lady and a designated work space in the East Wing mirrors that struggle.
So when alarmed reactions are dismissed by remarks that people need to “take a breath” or “stop clutching their pearls,” it’s at the expense of a collective sense of loss. The emotions people felt inside the East Wing as a staff member or a guest passing through it to, perhaps, the East Room on the east side of the White House’s State Floor in the untouched central residence, were real. Whether it was the joy felt by American teachers gathered for Jill Biden’s first-ever “Teachers of the Year State Dinner” in May 2024 or whether it was the devastation felt from Pat Nixon staffers gathered in the East Room listening to then President Richard Nixon thank his staff in his farewell remarks after tendering his resignation in light of the Watergate scandal, the range of emotions filled the connected spaces.
When the East Wing is described as the “heart and soul” of the White House, it’s not just a sweet sentiment. It’s a belief felt deeply by the women and men who worked in service to first ladies for decades in politically high and low times.
I had the privilege over the past two years to experience the White House East Wing on three occasions. Two of those included covering what is now the last “Holidays at the White House: A Season of Peace and Light” from that era. There, you could touch history inside the East Wing. The accompanying printed 2024 holiday program reminds readers of this history. “The East Wing of the White House was expanded to its current form in 1942 and includes the Office of the First Lady,” it reads.
The thousands of twinkling lights, the lush garlands hung throughout the East Wing Lobby, and the tradition present each step along the way made it, yes, magical.
A year ago, before the election, there were casual discussions happening among organizations like mine that focus on first ladies about how a potential first gentleman might impact our work. I was told, lightheartedly, that I was lucky because the name East Wing Magazine isn’t tied to a man or a woman. Indeed, when I set out to launch East Wing Magazine in August 2023, I chose the name because it had a nice ring to it, because it honors the first ladies of the time period who supported women and, in part, because it felt like there was a permanence to it.
Looking back a year later, the East Wing did not welcome its first, first gentlemen. But, I never expected on that day then that the actual East Wing would be reduced to ruins. Many things come and go, but America’s most historic and treasured structures seemed less temporary.
Today, the building is nonexistent. And that is sad. But, this publication lives on with its original intention to continue telling the stories of first ladies, so many of whom made the East Wing a warm, welcoming place for the rest of us.
For now, it’s time to get back to work.
This article was edited and updated to clarify that the East Room of the White House is not in the East Wing, but that White House staff and guests walk through the East Wing to attend various events in the White House. The East Room is not part of the East Wing demolition. Some corresponding images to the article were updated to more clearly represent the structure.
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Well done, with some nice insights tying the development of the first lady's role and the establishment of a specific space for her and her aides to women's history and advancement.
Annette Dunlap
Wonderful, Jennifer! Thank you so very much for your editorial. It made me cry, again! Let's keep in our hearts, for future generations, the love and the light that emanated from the East Wing of the White House for all those many, many years! Penny Adams, Deputy Press Secretary to Mrs. Pat Nixon