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West Wing
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The West Wing is the building housing the official offices of the President of the United States. It is the part of the White House Complex in which the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and also the famous Roosevelt Room are located. Besides serving as the day-to-day office of the President of the United States, it includes offices for senior members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and their support staff. The West Wing is located directly west of the Executive Residence, largely concealed from view by trees, because its height is lower than the main structure's.
re construction of the West Wing, presidential staff worked on the second floor of what is now the Executive Residence.
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Encyclopedia
The West Wing is the building housing the official offices of the President of the United States. It is the part of the White House Complex in which the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and also the famous Roosevelt Room are located. Besides serving as the day-to-day office of the President of the United States, it includes offices for senior members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and their support staff. The West Wing is located directly west of the Executive Residence, largely concealed from view by trees, because its height is lower than the main structure's.
History
Before construction of the West Wing, presidential staff worked on the second floor of what is now the Executive Residence. However, when Theodore Roosevelt became President, he came to the White House with his wife and his six children. In 1902, finding that the existing offices in the Mansion were insufficient to accommodate his family as well as his staff, he had the West Wing constructed by the New York architects McKim, Mead & White. The West Wing was originally constructed as a temporary office structure, built atop the site of the greenhouse and stables. In the original design, the President's office was located in the center of the West Wing, where the Roosevelt Room now exists. In 1909, William Howard Taft had the interior remodeled, creating the Oval Office, reminiscent of the oval rooms in the Residence.
On December 24, 1929, under President Hoover, the West Wing was significantly damaged by an electrical fire. In 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, he undertook the third and final major reorganization with a new Oval Office being constructed in the southeast corner of the West Wing. The new office's location also gave presidents greater privacy, allowing them to slip back and forth between the main White House and the West Wing without being in full view of West Wing staff. During the period, the March of Dimes constructed a swimming pool so that FDR could exercise, as therapy for his disability. Richard Nixon had the swimming pool covered over to create the Press Briefing Room, where the White House Press Secretary gives daily briefings.
Nixon also renamed the room previously called by Franklin Roosevelt the "Fish Room" (where he kept aquariums, and where John F. Kennedy displayed trophy fish) in honor of the two Presidents Roosevelt: Theodore, who first built the West Wing, and Franklin, who built the current Oval Office. By tradition, a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt hangs over the mantel of the Roosevelt Room during the administration of a president from the Democratic Party and a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt hangs during the administration of a Republican president (although President Clinton chose to retain the portrait of Theodore Roosevelt above the mantel). In the past, the portrait not hanging over the mantel hung on the opposite wall. However, during the first term of President George W. Bush's administration, an audio-visual cabinet was placed on the opposite wall providing secure audio and visual conference capabilities across the hall from the Oval Office.
As presidential staffs grew substantially in the latter half of the 20th century, the West Wing generally came to be seen as too small for its modern governmental functions. Today, some members of the President's staff are located in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building —originally the State, War, and Navy Building, after the departments it was built to house.
Obama administration occupants
A definitive listing of which aides to President Barack Obama will have offices in the West Wing is not yet available. However, officials likely to be housed in the West Wing are:
First Floor
- Barack Obama, President of the United States
- Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
- Katie Johnson, Personal Secretary to the President
- Reggie Love, Personal Aide to the President
- Robert Gibbs, Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary
- Ellen Moran, Communications Director
- Dan Pfeiffer, Deputy Communications Director
- Thomas E. Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
- James L. Jones, National Security Advisor
- Mona Sutphen, Deputy Chief of Staff
- Jim Messina, Deputy Chief of Staff
- David Axelrod, Senior Advisor
- Peter Rouse, Senior Adviser
- Rahm Emanuel, Assistant to the President and White House Chief of Staff
- Aides to Rahm Emanuel including Sean Sweeny, Sarah Feinberg, and Amanda Anderson
Second Floor
- Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council
- Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council
- Phil Schiliro, Director of Legislative Affairs
- Lisa Konwinski, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs
- Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council
- Patrick Gaspard, Director of the Office of Political Affairs
- Tina Tchen, Director of Public Liaison
- Cecilia Muñoz, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
- Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser
- Cassandra Butts, Deputy Counsel to the President
- Gregory Craig, White House Counsel
- Chris Lu, Cabinet Secretary
Ground Floor
- Alyssa Mastromonaco, Director of Scheduling and Advance
- Lisa Brown, Staff Secretary
- Jon Favreau, Director of Speechwriting
- Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of White House Office of Health Reform
- Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, Deputy National Security Adviser for Iraq and Afganistan
- John O. Brennan, Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security
- Denis McDonough, Foreign Policy Adviser
- Mark Lippert, Chief of Staff for National Security Council
- Pete Souza, Chief White House Photographer
Depiction in The West Wing TV Series
In 1999, a popular and critically acclaimed television show called The West Wing brought greater public attention to the workings of the Presidential staff, as well as to the location of those working in the West Wing. The show followed the working lives of a fictional Democratic American President, Josiah Bartlet, and his senior staff. When asked whether the show accurately captured the working environment in 2003, Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented that the show portrayed more foot traffic and larger rooms than in the real wing. It has been widely reported that the fictional Democratic President who succeeded Josiah Bartlet, Matt Santos, was based largely upon the junior United States Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, who was subsequently elected the 44th President of the United States in the 2008 United States election.
External links
- , with floorplan and historical images
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