Reply #205: How the White House got its official name of "White House"

[Brewman_Jax]

The presidential mansion had been previously called "President's Palace", "President's House" or "Executive Mansion". In 1798, during construction, it was made white by a protective lime-based whitewash. It's likely that "White House" became one of the mansion's nicknames before the damage done during the War of 1812.

In 1901, right after Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President after the death of President William McKinley, he invited Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute to the White House for a meeting. The meeting ran late, and TR invited Mr. Washington to dinner. This was the first time that an African-American was entertained at the White House as a guest.

When news of the dinner got out, Northern newspapers politely and quietly applauded the president, African-Americans reacted with joy and anticipation, and Southerners were sent into a paroxysm of rage that evoked memories of 1860. Roosevelt’s temerity in entertaining a black man at the same table as his genteel wife was enough to evoke fury from all levels of Southern white society. Southern newspapers rained rarely-printed racial epithets at Roosevelt. A river of hate mail and death threats flooded the White House. Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina threatened open violence against blacks in retaliation for the dinner. The outcry was so great that Booker T. Washington would never receive another dinner invitation, although he would continue to attend regular meetings during business hours. Also, later in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt made "White House" the official name of the presidential mansion. It has supposed that Roosevelt did that to quell his Southern critics. Considering the incredible rage over the dinner with Booker T. Washington, the timing cannot be ignored. None of the cited websites make the connection, only author Clarence Lusane says it out loud.




http://www.aviewoncities.com/washington/whitehouse.htm
Book: Black History of the White House by Clarence Lusane
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/firsts.htm
http://blog.aurorahistoryboutique.com/president-theodore-roosevelt-invites-booker-t-washington-to-dinner/