Comments on: Washington Didn’t Sleep Here: A White House FAQ

By: Tabitha

Tabitha — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:42:00 +0000

I love how, who actually built the White House, was left out of this article aout THE WHITE HOUSE. I would think, if you are giving facts that would be obviously included…FYI it was built with the hands, blood, sweat and tears of African and African-American slaves.

By: Dixon

Dixon — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:53:00 +0000

Seriously, Mental Floss is read by smart people, isn’t it? You really do know that this is not the ONLY presidential office, and that the POTUS doesn’t do research online or read word documents off a screen? And I hope he’s not surfing the ‘net during office hours…

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:06:00 +0000

The thought of W. using a computer with any kind of literacy made me giggle.

I doubt there’s much call for the President to be on a computer anyway. It’s not as if the Pres would be spending any amount of time working on a computer. Not in the sense that so many of us do. That’s what he has an extensive staff for.

His time is more valuable than that…he’s got places to go, people to see. ;-)

By: Witty Nickname

Witty Nickname — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:54:00 +0000

This picture is from the Regan admininstration, but GTT’s question does make me wonder…

Surely President Bush has at least a laptop to use in the Oval Office, do they drill through Lincoln’s desk to make holes for power cords and network cables?

By: Merlin

Merlin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:52:00 +0000

The shot of the Oval Office was from the Reagan years, as stated in the caption. That would have put them at 20 years old or older.

By: GTT

GTT — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Has anyone noticed that there is no computer on the desk in the picture? How in the world does he get any work done? Why isnt the US economy stumbling into a total state of chaos……? Ah, there is the answer.

Also, I´m guessing he could get a more comfortable chair if he wanted one…

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:47:00 +0000

I don’t know if this is officially true or not, but I think I read that Eleanor Roosevelt was so disturbed by Winston Churchill’s nude lounging and so scarred from running into him in his night shirt in the hallway that she had the White House guest house built immediately to house visitors outside of the residence.

By: GTT

GTT — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:47:00 +0000

Anyone notice that the president´s desk in the picture does not have a computer?

And I´m guessing he could probably have a better chair if he wanted one…

By: Kelly J

Kelly J — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:44:00 +0000

My dad knew some secret service higher up during Clinton’s presidency (early on) and we got a super-duper personal tour of the white house, which included the room under the Oval Office (not on official tours.) I was in 6th grade then, and now am nearly a year and a half out of college, so my memory isn’t SUPER or anything. However I believe it’s name was a number (like, the A-16 or something weird like that) and someone joked that it was there so no one could tunnel into the Oval Office. It had tracking for where the Clintons were, and there were a bunch of secret service people on computers and such. Any idea what this was????

By: AaronTheBaron

AaronTheBaron — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:20:00 +0000

It’s always good to point out that the labor was done by slaves, free blacks, and some hired Europeans.