In 1948, President Harry Truman, enjoying a bath on the White House’s second floor, almost plunged through the ceiling of the Blue Room into a tea party for the Daughters of the American Revolution. A handpicked team of the country’s top architects conducted a secret inspection of the troubled mansion and, after discovering it was in imminent danger of collapse, insisted that the First Family be evicted immediately.
What followed would be the most historically significant and politically complex home-improvement job in American history. Robert Klara writes about this period in his book, The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence.
Robert Klara is a longtime magazine editor and writer. He’s served on the mastheads of numerous titles including Town & Country and Architecture, and he’s currently a staff writer for Adweek and a contributing editor for American Road magazine.
