Showing posts with label National Archives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Archives. Show all posts

Friday, June 3, 2022

John Dean, Watergate, and Jim Acosta

John Dean, left, and Jim Acosta at National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was a Washington crowd, after all, where most of us think alike (no friends of Trump) and groaned and laughed at the best of lines.

John Dean was in town at National Archives to talk about the upcoming CNN series Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal beginning Sunday night, June 5, at 9 p.m. and CNN's Jim Acosta was there with him to ask a few questions.

John Dean, left, and Jim Acosta at National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dean looks healthy and about ten years younger than his 83 years.

He said he had saved lots of his papers and goods which he pitched to CNN a while back as the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in on June 17, 1972 nears, and CNN took the idea and ran with it.

If the first show is an indication of the quality, it'll be an excellent series!

National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Dean was the personal lawyer for President Richard Nixon hired when he was only 31 and advised not to take the job by then U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Richard Kleindienst (1923-2000), but who's going to reject a White House job offer?

Not Dean.

Not anybody!

Nixon knew he was breaking the law, but that didn't stop him from breaking the law, Dean said, and Nixon sicced the IRS on various "enemies" which his
 team thought was “great stuff [to use], but I thought it was awful,” Dean says.

Nixon’s team sabotaged the 1972 presidential campaign of Edmund Muskie (1914-1966) with a fake letter which led to Muskie's withdrawal from the race. 

Dean described G. Gordon Liddy (1930-2021), a Nixon deputy who directed the Watergate break-in, as “radioactive.”

Walking near the White House with Liddy one day after Watergate was discovered, Dean said he'd never forget a conversation they had. Liddy pleaded with Dean that if it became necessary "to take him [Liddy] out," to please do it anywhere but his house where his children were.

Before Watergate, the Nixon gang came up with other grand schemes to obtain sources of leaks and find damaging information about their opponents, Dean said, like "firebombing" the Brookings Institution and hiring prostitutes to lure secrets from attendees at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. 

The absurdities of the ideas produced loud guffaws from the Archives' audience. 

Dean took credit for single-handedly killing the Brookings plot when he told H.R "Bob" Haldeman (1926-1993), a chief Nixon lieutenant, that it was "insane."

At times in the show, Dean's heroics make him seem grander than he was. He did spend four months in prison and was disbarred in Virginia and the District of Columbia (which go unmentioned, at least in the first show).

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, lead the show, aided by memories from CBS's Lesley Stahl who describes Nixon's henchmen John Ehrlichman (1925-1999) as personable and likeable, but, Haldeman, his partner in crime, was "dark" and "humorless." (No surprise to anyone who lived during the era.)

Nixon later denied pardon requests to both because he was annoyed by their tactics and unfaithfulness to him.

After only a year of working in the White House, “I was losing my respect for these people,” Dean said to audience laughter. When he broached the idea of leaving, Haldeman threatened him with inclusion on Nixon's enemies list.*

During the evening, 
laughter, moans, and/or groans often greeted the name of Donald Trump whenever it came up, which was probably more often than any other contemporary's.  

At the conclusion of the film, Acosta asked Dean, “why is this story so relevant now?” and the audience sighed loudly.

Dean: “It's impossible to look at Watergate now" and ignore comparisons to the Trump administration. In “an understatement,” Trump does or did not want to follow the law, and the audience laughed again.

“Nobody made ignoring standard operating procedures illegal until we get to the Trump years,” Dean said.

He spent 4.5 years with graduate students transcribing the Watergate tapes, and Archives has much of the material.

Acosta: “Did this country learn its lesson from Watergate?” and the audience, with mixed ages, groaned again.

Dean thinks Washington was sensitized to Watergate’s lessons for the first ten years after the scandal, "but since then….My hope is that they [the January 6 Committee] have witnesses who quietly come forward.”

Acosta: What will happen to our democracy?

Dean: “I worry much more about it now. During Watergate, I never worried about a constitutional crisis,” but things are different now with the Republicans carrying Trump’s water.

The show's music is fitting, if sometimes harsh and overpowering which may have been due to acoustics in the Archives' McGowan Theatre where almost every seat was filled.

The interview lasted about 15 minutes and no questions from the audience were taken.

*Some of the names from Nixon's "enemies list" floated on the screen including that of U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) (1994-2005), whose 50th anniversary of her presidential launch is celebrated this year, too. Last week she was featured in an excellent talk by Ashleigh Coren at the National Portrait Gallery which, alas, has no planned exhibitions on Ms. Chisholm.

This is also the 50th anniversary of the founding of CNN.


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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Must-see film: the Rosenbergs' story, 'Heir to an Execution'

At a National Archives presentation last week, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs, Michael Meeropol, recommended this book, Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case by Walter Schneir

The documentary, Heir to an Execution, depicts the love story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and their sons Michael and Robert, ages 10 and 7, as the parents were convicted by the U.S. government of passing secrets to the Soviets and were put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York on June 19, 1953.

In splendid detail the film, produced and directed by the Rosenbergs' granddaughter, filmmaker Ivy Meeropol, charts the ends of her grandparents' lives, the trial, and the aftermath in a balanced portrait with film history, newspaper clippings, interviews with major characters, visits to the courtroom, and the apartment where the Rosenbergs lived on the Lower East Side when Mr. Rosenberg was arrested.  Also, the cemetery where they are buried which Michael Meeropol had never visited until the movie's filming.
On stage November 12, 2014 at National Archives were Ivy Meeropol and her father, the Rosenbergs' son, Michael Meeropol/Photo by Patricia Leslie
,
Both Meeropols are so likable, so homespun, far more charming than anyone could have expected. If Michael Meeropol had a chip on his shoulder, who could blame him? But there was none to be found.

Ivy and Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

When no family member came forward to adopt the boys after their parents' deaths, activists Abel and Anne Meeropol did. "They literally saved our lives," Michael said onstage.   "We have love and tremendous respect for Anne and Abel."  He said his stepparents had lost two children at birth and later, from photographs, Michael Meeropol learned Abel was a pallbearer at his parents' burials. 

Michael (left) and Robert Rosenberg with their parents' attorney, Emanuel Hirsch Bloch, at Sing Sing Prison/From the film, Heir To An Execution, 2004

In the film, a cousin, one of the few relatives who agrees to communicate with Ivy Meeropol about her grandparents, breaks down and cries over his parents' refusal to help the Rosenberg children after the executions. He apologizes to Ivy. 

Spliced throughout the film are visuals of the two boys, dressed up in coats and ties, coming and going to visit their parents in prison.

They saw their mother and father separately in prison because authorities wanted to keep the couple apart, to prevent their physical closeness. The Rosenbergs were able to meet and touch fingertips when Mr. Rosenberg, in a cage, was transported to visit Mrs. Rosenberg in her cell, Mr. Meeropol said.

Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

They were executed on the same day.  Mr. Rosenberg went first.  Because of Mrs. Rosenberg's diminutive size, the electrical charges did not initially work, and a second round of electricity was applied.  Eyewitnesses reported smoke rose from the top of her head.

Until the government released the Venona papers in 1995 which provided proof their father passed secrets, the boys grew up firmly believing in their parents' innocence.  The guilt of their mother has never been proved.  She was not linked with any direct proof to the case, and never had a code name, like her sister-in-law, Ruth Greenglass, saved by Ethel's brother, David Greenglass who later admitted he lied about his sister's role in the spy ring to protect his wife.  Ultimately, he sentenced Ethel Rosenberg to death.  Greenglass died July 1, 2014, but his death was not uncovered and reported until October 14, 2014, by the New York Times.

Mr. Meeropol said Heir To An Execution was his daughter's idea, and although he and his wife were skeptical initially, "we felt she was ready and capable, and we had total trust in her....and felt like she could make a real contribution."  Another of Ms. Meeropol's documentaries is All About Abe (2007), all about D.C.'s Abe Pollin, the developer of Verizon Center.

With eerie and haunting qualities, Heir's music by Human matches the film contents.

One questioner in the audience asked the speakers about comparisons between Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and the Rosenbergs. Michael Meeropol replied that if Mr. Snowden returned to the U.S. from Russia, he would be tried under the same Espionage Act the U.S. government used to find Mr. Meeropol's parents guilty. 

Along with Freedom Riders, Ms. Meeropol's Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter's Story, first released in 2004 and shortlisted for an Academy Award, should be part of every American history class. Both films paint modern-day true portraits of America which are so unthinkable, they could pass for fiction.

The people of the United States are grateful to National Archives for screening the film and inviting the Rosenbergs' heirs to appear. The event was part of Archives' exhibit, Making Their Mark: Stories Through Signatures, on display through January 4 or 5 (two dates given), 2015. 

The National Archives has the original letter Michael wrote to President Eisenhower on February 16, 1953, pleading with the president to save his parents from execution.

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Monday, April 8, 2013

National Archives: 'Ain't I a Woman?'






President Abraham Lincoln "showing Sojourner Truth the Bible presented by the colored people of Baltimore, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Oct. 29, 1864"/Library of Congress


No women will be represented on a panel of four with a moderator when the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration hosts a discussion April 11, 2013 about the 100 years between President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 and the 1963 march on Washington.

On its calendar of events, Archives says the talk will focus on "the continuing struggle for freedom, justice, and equality during Reconstruction, as well as the Tilden-Hayes Compromise and Jim Crow laws."

The four scheduled panelists are C.R. Gibbs, Clarence Lusane, Roger Davidson, and Frank Smith. John Franklin will be moderator. I suppose Archives couldn't find a
qualified woman historian from the approximately 6,000 who teach history in postsecondary institutions to join its panel. Oh, that's right: Women's History Month was last month.

President Lincoln's proclamation applied to all slaves, men and women, one of whom affected was
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), an abolitionist and a woman's rights advocate who worked tirelessly to improve conditions for former slaves and for women. In 1864 she visited the White House and met President Lincoln. No doubt she would be surprised to learn that more than 150 years later, women are still overlooked for important roles, even by federal agencies which are supposed to lead the way, I thought, for the rest of the nation.

Sojourner Truth was the first black woman to be honored with a bust at the U.S. Capitol (2009).
 
Ain't it 2013, National Archives?  

Below is a portion of Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech delivered at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron in the 1850s, as recalled by Frances Dana Barker Gage, and cited at Wikipedia:

"Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!"

And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked. 

 'And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear de lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"


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Friday, April 5, 2013

National Archives stings again

 
The sun sets near National Archives/Patricia Leslie
 
Dear National Archives, the least you could do is let the commoners, the peasants, standing out in the wind (gusts up to 29 mph) and the cold know that all we could have possibly hoped for Wednesday evening was nothing more than a video. 
 
No more than one stinking lousy video which we could have seen at home. 
 
On YouTube.

We were not going to get in the auditorium to see Rumsfeld and friends talk about their days at the White House since the Aspen Institute and the press had taken all the seats.  (“She’s from the London Times!" you exclaimed.  "Let her in!” Said my new line friend:  “Oh, where are our press passes?”) 

Why couldn’t you, National Archives, tell us in the first place that you had no serfs' seats left?

An "overflow" ticket for Wednesday's event at National Archives.  Contrary to the wording, "free tickets" were not distributed until 6:30 p.m./Patricia Leslie

Why couldn't you have saved our standing in line for one cold and breezy (wind chill = 44 degrees ) hour which we could have used more judiciously by walking up the street and attending an actual event, namely, the Civil War talk at the Smithsonian American Art Museum?

National Archives, you remind me of Marie Antoinette:   “Let them have video.”

Seeing a video of a live event is like seeing a picture postcard of Salvador Dali’s Last Supper. It cannot compare to standing in front of the real thing (on view at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art).  You just don’t get it, National Archives.

No, I did not hang around.  Yes!  I am angry at the wasted time, at my missing the Smithsonian talk which I would not have missed had you only said an hour earlier:  All that’s left is “overflow.”  Good grief.  You think "overflow" is a prize?

This was not the first time it has happened.

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke a few months ago, one of your representatives came out and told us on the concrete, the weary, the tired, the oppressed, that Thomas had essentially filled up the house with 120 of his staff members, and the rest of the seats were taken by the press.  And we left.

Woe to the line standers, the taxpayers.

National Archives, why don’t you take a cue from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum?  When their events are “oversold” and their auditorium is filled up and all that's left is "overflow," they tell the people ahead of time.  Because we hear the truth ahead of time, we can leave pronto if "overflow" is undesirable.  We don't stand around anticipating a seat to the actual production only to be disappointed at show time, like we are at your house. 

National Archives, please contact colleagues at the Smithsonian. Thank you.

Sincerely,

A Wannabe Guest Who Stood in the Cold

patricialesli@gmail.com

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Rumsfeld to talk at Archives Apr. 3

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld with President Gerald Ford/Wikipedia
 
Donald Rumsfeld, former defense secretary under Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and Ford's chief of staff from 1974-75, will talk about his role as chief of staff with four other former chiefs at National Archives on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The public is invited, and there is no charge to attend.

Other White House chiefs scheduled for "Inside View" are John Podesta (chief of staff for Bill Clinton, 1998-2001), Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty (another Clinton chief of staff who served 1993-94), Kenneth M. Duberstein (for Reagan, 1988-89), and Joshua Bolten (for George W. Bush, 2006-09).

David Gergen, former presidential advisor for four presidents and director of the Center for Public Leadership, will moderate.  The Aspen Institute is a co-sponsor.

Seating at the William G. McGowan Theater will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  Formation of a line outside the entrance at the corner of Seventh Street N.W. and Constitution is expected to form around 5 p.m.   Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., however, free tickets are often distributed to those standing in line before then.

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Suffragists celebrate March 1 - 3, 2013, Washington, DC


The cover of the 1913 program for the National American Women's Suffrage Association/Library of Congress, Wikipedia

Hundreds of expected women (and men) will walk this Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. from the West Lawn (mall side) of the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote march which culminated in 1920 with the passage of the 19th amendment. 
Many other events are scheduled to honor this significant piece of American history:
Saturday, March 2, 2013:
10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Panel discussion: Modern Day Activism and the Role of Social Media with UniteWomen.org, the American Association of University Women, and PunditMom at AAUW, 1111 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036. Ph. 202-785-7700. Metro station: Farragut West
12 p.m.  Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film; may be too intense for some audiences) about the 1913 suffragists with discussion, McGowan Theater, National Archives, no charge . Use the Constitution Ave., NW entrance, between 7th and 9th Sts., NW. Metro station:  Archives-Navy Memorial
12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Activism training at AAUW, 1111 16th St., NW
2 p.m. – 4 p.m.   Book talk: Winning the Vote with Robert Cooney at AAUW
2:30 p.m. Book talk:  Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World with Matthew Goodman at the Newseum, included with museum admission ($21.95 + tax, adult) 555 Pennsylvania Ave., at 2nd St., NW, Washington, DC 20001. Ph. 888-639-7386
Sunday, March 3, 2013:
9 a.m. The march begins at the Capitol's West Lawn and continues 3.1 miles to the Washington Monument. Sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.  National Park Service rangers and volunteers will reenact the 1917 "silent sentinel" demonstrations outside the White House.  Hear about mob violence and police brutality.  For more information:  202-208-1631, ext. 215 or 202-822-5080, ext. 25. Metro station: Farragut West or Farragut North.
11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Rangers and volunteers from the National Park Service will give formal talks in front of the White House about the historic protests that led to the passage of the 19th amendment.
2:30 p.m.  Book talk:  Women of the Washington Press with Maurine Beasley, at the Newseum, included with museum  admission ($21.95 + tax, adult)
Exhibits:
The 1913 Woman Suffragist Parade
On the National Mall, Constitution and 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Open 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. every day. Metro station: Federal Triangle or the Smithsonian
A 30-foot long display recreates the mood of the parade and illustrates its impact using costumes worn by participants along with banners, sashes, postcards, letters, and photographs.
The 1913 Suffragist Parade and the Role of the Press
Through March in the lobby of the National Press Club, no charge
529 14th St. NW (just south of F St.), 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045. Ph. 202-662-7500
Metro station:  Metro Center
Learn about key figures in the historic suffrage movement and the role of the press in helping to turn public opinion in favor of women’s voting rights. Created by the National Women’s History Museum with support from the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum.  
Fashioning the "New Woman" 1890-1925
Through August 31, 2013 at the Daughters of the American Revolution,  no charge
1776 D St., NW, Washington, DC 20006. Ph. 202-628-1776. Open Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  Metro stations:  Farragut West or Farragut North
The exhibit traces the evolution of women’s fashion and how it reflected the changing societal roles and activities of women during the Progressive Era.  The “New Woman” represented women venturing from the home where society had confined them, to offices, sporting events, working for social reform, and the pursuit of a higher education.
Historic newspaper front pages and photos from the period
In the outdoor display cases through March 14 at the Newseum, no charge
555 Pennsylvania Ave., at 2nd St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. Ph. 888-639-7386
Metro stations: Archives-Navy Memorial, Judiciary Square, the Smithsonian, or Gallery Place-Chinatown

Sewall-Belmont House, the home of the National Woman's Party
2nd St. NE and Constitution Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002.  Ph. 202-546-1210.
Adults: $8.  One of the nation's premier women's history memorials.
Open 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 1 - 3
Metro station:  Union Station or Capitol South


Information:

American Association of University Women, 1111 16th St., NW. Building is open Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. with archivist on site for public tours. Other organizations will have information available at AAUW.

In addition to those named above, other sponsors of the centennial suffrage celebration are: the Alice Paul Institute, Cultural Tourism DC, and Turning Point Suffragist Memorial.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Oscar flicks for free at National Archives


Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, 2012, The Invisible War

The public is invited to attend screenings of Academy Award nominees in four categories for free at National Archives beginning Wednesday.

The categories are documentary feature, documentary short subject, live action short film, and animated short film.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, and saving seats is prohibited.  Reservations are not taken.  You must be present to receive a ticket which will be distributed an hour before show times at the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue.  Doors open a half hour before start time. Alert:  Not every film is rated "G," and the schedule may change.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in partnership with the Charles Guggenheim Center for the Documentary Film and the Foundation for the National Archives have made the showings possible.

National Archives is located on Constitution Avenue between Seventh and Ninth Streets, N.W.  For more information, call 202-357-5000.  The closest Metro station is Archives-Navy Memorial.
 
David France and Howard Gertler, 2012, How to Survive a Plague

Documentary Feature Nominees

Wednesday, February 20, at 7 p.m.
Searching for Sugar Man
Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn
(85 minutes)

Thursday, February 21, at 7 p.m.
The Gatekeepers
Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, and Estelle Fialon
(97 minutes)

Friday, February 22, at 7 p.m.
How to Survive a Plague
David France and Howard Gertler
(110 minutes)

Saturday, February 23, at 7 p.m.
The Invisible War
Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
(97 minutes)

Sunday, February 24, at 4 p.m.
5 Broken Cameras
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
(90 minutes)

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Live Action Short Film Nominees

Saturday, February 23, at noon
Asad
Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
(17 minutes)

Buzkashi Boys
Sam French and Ariel Nasr
(30 minutes)

Curfew
Shawn Christensen
(20 minutes)

Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
(20 minutes)

Henry
Yan England
(21 minutes)

Total Running time: 108 minutes.

Animated Short Film Nominees

Saturday, February 23, at 3:30 p.m. & 5 p.m.
Adam and Dog
Minkyu Lee
(16 minutes)

Fresh Guacamole
PES
(2 minutes)

Head over Heels
Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
(10 minutes)

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
David Silverman
(5 minutes)

*Please note: Although submitted and nominated in 3-D; due to technical limitations we will present Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" in 2-D.

Paperman
John Kahrs
(7 minutes)

Total Running Time: 40 minutes.

Documentary Short Subject Nominees

Sunday, February 24, at 11 a.m.
Inocente
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
(40 minutes)

Kings Point
Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
(31 minutes)

Mondays at Racine
Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
(39 minutes)

Open Heart
Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
(39 minutes)

Redemption
Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
(35 minutes)

Total Running Time: 184 minutes

TCM Sale Section, up to 40% off!

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Monday, February 2, 2009

Archives Presents: White House Transitions



By the Queen of Free

From left to right: Gary Walters, former White House chief usher, Ann Stock, Bill Clinton's social secretary, Sharon Fawcett, Presidential archivist, and Frederick Ryan, Ronald Reagan's chief of staff.

One of the many joys of living in Washington, D.C. is the opportunity to attend and hear free presentations by “insiders” who reveal new stories about employers, Washington celebrities and other VIPs. The entertainment value usually far exceeds that which one pays to see and hear on screen and stage.

That is, if you like this sort of thing. We live here and like it!

At Archives recently, two panels of insiders told stories about Presidential transitions and moving day to the overwhelmingly Caucasian, mixed-aged audience which mostly filled the magnificent William G. McGowan Theatre.

Some of the panelists were the former White House chief usher, Gary Walters; Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff, Frederick Ryan; and Bill Clinton’s social secretary, Ann Stock.

Mr. Walters said the house transforms from a home for one family into a home for another family within hours, all on January 20. “The clothes are hung,” favorite foods are stocked, and “all boxes are emptied” so that the new first family feels immediately “comfortable.” The First Family pays to move its personal possessions.

Preparation for the change begins right after the November election and continues through “to the end of the day,” (meaning January 20, I think).

Ms. Stock said the Obamas' organization and planning should serve as a transition “model” for they moved quickly on White House transition planning. Michelle Obama immediately picked 26 to help staff the White House, Ms. Stock said, unlike any other First Lady. (The White House staff totals around 90 persons.)

Between 100 and 150 events occur in the social life of the White House in the first 100 days of a new administration.

Who pays to move them in and move them out?

They do!

However, the federal government pays to move records, Mr. Walters said. The First Family pays for all their and their guests’ food and beverages, he said. The total cost shocked Laura Bush (I think he said Laura) the first time he presented a bill to her. (What about state dinners?)

Children in the White House make it “a lot more fun,” Ms. Stock said. “They bring life to the White House and to everyone who works there.” The nice thing for the Obamas is they “live over the store.”

One time Chelsea Clinton climbed out on a ledge at the White House to sunbathe, and members of the press brought it to the attention of Walters.

Sharon Fawcett, a Presidential archivist, said Archives keeps the official daily diary of the President. Ronald Reagan’s diaries which he kept and which were published after his death were his own personal diaries. The Archives staff is frequently contacted to find Presidential events and dates which they locate generally within two hours.

Presidential papers are supposed to be accessible five years after the President leaves office.

The White House has no restrictions on pets kept by occupants. Mr. Walters said many different animals have been pets to first families including parakeets, snakes, and raccoons. The staff often supplied Barbara Bush’s dog, Millie, with treats, and Millie was no slouch. About every day the elevator operator at the White House took Millie down to the West Wing where she marched to get treats. Mrs. Bush would call Mr. Walters: “Where’s Millie?" And “stop feeding Millie!”

Terry Sullivan, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor and executive director of the White House Transition Project, spoke on the second panel, "The Presidential Transition," about his experiences from President Eisenhower to George Bush I.

The people the President sees most often are not whom you would expect. The ones he sees daily number about five including the secretary of state, his national security advisor, and his chief of staff with whom he spends about five percent of his daily time.

The press secretary is one of seven to 11 persons the Presidents sees about three times a week, interacting with none on a regular basis (other than his COS).

The President does lots of different things every day “but nothing in particular every day.” (Obama’s and Bush II’s exercise? But he was speaking of practice before their terms.)

About 15 percent of the President's time daily is spent on diplomatic issues.

Another panelist, Roger Porter, a Harvard professor and presidential policy director, said people like to be consulted early, especially Congressional members who want to know about announcements before they are queried by the press.

Presidential scholar and University of Vermont professor John Burke talked about nominees whose pasts proved troublesome. Mistakes are recognized and names are quickly pulled. He listed Linda Chavez, Bush II's choice for Labor Secretary who did not make it.

Assigned parking places are a sensitive issue at the White House, noted Martha Joynt Kumar, the moderator of the second panel, who is a Presidential scholar and another White House Transition Project director.