White House was once open to all crashers
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE couple who sneaked into United States President Barack Obama's state dinner are part of a long tradition of people showing up as they please at the People's House. It's just that the tradition vanished ages ago.
Americans staked their claim to the White House in muddy boots, picnicked on the grounds, parked their carriages and then their cars outside and tromped inside to look for the president, often finding him. They did not need invitations.
Many were ordinary people. Others were social climbers, gate crashers, fence jumpers, job seekers, cranks and crazies.
Why so loose? A child's primer from the Civil War explained that there is an essential difference between an imperious monarch and a US president. "How are emperors and kings protected?" it asked. "By great troops of guards; so that it is difficult to approach them. How is the president guarded? He needs no guards at all; he may be visited by any persons like a private citizen."
Try that now. Tareq and Michaele Salahi did. The Virginia couple's caper angered Obama, sent ripples of fear through lawmakers that the security breach, if achieved by a malcontent, might have caused a "night of horror," as one put it.
No, it's not the 1800s anymore. Or the 1900s, for that matter.
Then-President Thomas Jefferson wanted the Executive Mansion, opened in 1800, to be accessible, not a palace separated from serfs. Even the idea of stationing guards in and around the complex was considered inappropriate through the 19th century; their presence was only tolerated when the city itself was threatened in wartime.
So says a federal report that reviewed White House security and access after a disturbed pilot crashed his small plane on the grounds and a man sprayed bullets from outside the fence, both in 1994. The panel that compiled the report recommended closing Pennsylvania Avenue to traffic.
Few remember now that until World War II, the public could freely roam the White House property, gates opening to the masses in the morning and closing at night. The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 was one of many events that increased security.
"The gates at the beginning were more to keep cows out than they were to keep people out," said Donald Ritchie, the Senate historian. "This was a very open government and very open city."
Americans staked their claim to the White House in muddy boots, picnicked on the grounds, parked their carriages and then their cars outside and tromped inside to look for the president, often finding him. They did not need invitations.
Many were ordinary people. Others were social climbers, gate crashers, fence jumpers, job seekers, cranks and crazies.
Why so loose? A child's primer from the Civil War explained that there is an essential difference between an imperious monarch and a US president. "How are emperors and kings protected?" it asked. "By great troops of guards; so that it is difficult to approach them. How is the president guarded? He needs no guards at all; he may be visited by any persons like a private citizen."
Try that now. Tareq and Michaele Salahi did. The Virginia couple's caper angered Obama, sent ripples of fear through lawmakers that the security breach, if achieved by a malcontent, might have caused a "night of horror," as one put it.
No, it's not the 1800s anymore. Or the 1900s, for that matter.
Then-President Thomas Jefferson wanted the Executive Mansion, opened in 1800, to be accessible, not a palace separated from serfs. Even the idea of stationing guards in and around the complex was considered inappropriate through the 19th century; their presence was only tolerated when the city itself was threatened in wartime.
So says a federal report that reviewed White House security and access after a disturbed pilot crashed his small plane on the grounds and a man sprayed bullets from outside the fence, both in 1994. The panel that compiled the report recommended closing Pennsylvania Avenue to traffic.
Few remember now that until World War II, the public could freely roam the White House property, gates opening to the masses in the morning and closing at night. The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 was one of many events that increased security.
"The gates at the beginning were more to keep cows out than they were to keep people out," said Donald Ritchie, the Senate historian. "This was a very open government and very open city."
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