We Feel the Loss of the East Wing

Editorial

The White House East Wing’s east elevation. The East Wing was demolished this week to make way for President Donald Trump’s White House Grand Ballroom. (Photo: Jack E. Boucher/Library of Congress)

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.