The View.
How Hanukkah Came to the White House
The news that President Obama is cutting the guest list for the annual White House Hanukkah party from 800 to 400 lit up cyberspace over the past couple weeks. “More Proof Obama Hates Jews,” read one dispatch that crossed my desk. Other responses were equally hostile. Overlooked in the frenzy over whether the president was prudently cutting costs or (as one blogger vigorously insisted) purposefully “dissing Jews” was a fascinating question: How did the president of the United States come to hold an official White House Hanukkah party in the first place?
For most of the 20th century, the only December holiday that gained White House recognition was Christmas. Calvin Coolidge inaugurated the practice of lighting an official White House Christmas tree in 1923, and he also delivered the first formal presidential Christmas message. He assumed, as most Americans of his day did, that everybody celebrated Christmas. In 1927, he proclaimed that “Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind.” If we focus on its message, Coolidge explained, “there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” Silent Cal, so far as I can determine, uttered not one word about Hanukkah.
Advent Calendar: Christmas Cards « All My Ancestors
As I recall, we did send Christmas cards. The one that survives is one my mom sent out the year (1967) we moved into the house they lived in until her death in 1998. Always the efficient one, she used the opportunity to let her Christmas card list know about our new address. I found this one in my grandmother’s picture box–her mother.
This is the only time I know of that my folks used cards printed with their name. And evidently my South Dakota grandparents were coming south for Christmas. About this time they started spending winters in Texas and Oklahoma with my folks and with my aunt and uncle who lived in Oklahoma. Avoiding South Dakota winters only made good sense as they got a little older. Or maybe we were traveling up to visit them–I loved having Christmas in South Dakota because we could almost always be assured of having a white Christmas.
...News
Secret Service Shouldn't Take Blame for White House Crasher ScandalU.S. News & World Report - Dec 04, 2009
Boston GlobeSecret Service Shouldn't Take Blame for White House Crasher ScandalLoretta Sanchez (she of awesome Christmas cards): "It's always been my experience that the White House—either social or legislative division, in the case of Republican and Democratic not the parties they had in mindall 909 news articles »
New York Times - Dec 04, 2009
The series of trips is dubbed the “White House to Main Street” tour. The administration and Congressional Democrats are shifting focus from Afghanistan to and more »Access North Georgia - Dec 05, 2009
2010 Nat'l Christmas Tree to stop in N. Ga. on way to DCDAHLONEGA - Next year's National Christmas Tree will make a two-day stop in Dahlonega before heading to the White House.Forward - Dec 02, 2009
Calvin Coolidge inaugurated the practice of lighting an official White House Christmas tree in 1923, and he also delivered the first formal presidential and more »Washington Post - Dec 04, 2009
When will President Obama invite Tiger & Elin to the White House for Beer Summit II; 2. Will you crash it? I am hoping that the House Transportation andNew York Times - Dec 02, 2009
ABC NewsThe Salahis: Even before they gained notoriety as that Virginia couple accused of interloping at the White House State dinner last week, Tareq and Michaele First thoughts: Obama's challengesSomber Obama's thread-the-needle strategy -- Schieffer: 'The defining moment all 18,755 news articles »
NBC Bay Area - Dec 04, 2009
Yes, that White House. She got the gig through connections she made during a five year stint working in Hollywood. So while you were filling out Christmas
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