As COVID spreads like the wind at the start of this New Year, and most people have no desire for anyone to pass through the front door, much less shake their hand, here then is something to consider from the pages of history.
We have all read or heard of the handshaking with the public that President Abraham Lincoln did on January 1, 1863, leaving his hand sore and cramped. For three hours the president had conducted the then-annual event of greeting the public who wished to come to the White House so to start the New Year.
Later that day Lincoln goes down in history for signing the Emancipation Proclamation. He was concerned with a hand that was aching to not have his signature viewed as somewhat distorted or shaky and then to be construed as uncertain about the enormity of his decision. We know that once the ink was on the document it was completed with a steady hand.
But how did it start that hordes of people would converge on the White House at the start of each year?
President George Washington instituted the open house reception on the 4th of July, even when he was operating government in New York. When President John Adams moved into the newly constructed White House, the ‘people’s house”, for the 1801 New Year’s event it became a tradition in Washington for the doors to be opened to the public.
I started looking for pictures of this event and while there are many drawings and later photos with the advent of the camera, there is one that clearly demonstrates the size of the crowds better than any other I could locate.
The line for the New Year’s reception in 1922 reached down the White House sidewalk, wound out beyond the gates, and continued around the block bordering the old State, War, and Navy Building (now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building). Thanks to the Library of Congress for the grand picture.
The last New Year’s Day Reception was held in 1932. By 1933 who really wanted to warmly greet outgoing President Herbert Hoover?
Happy New Year!
And so it goes.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 