The White House: A museum of history

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

What is it really like to live in the White House? Let me take you behind the scenes and give you an idea of life amidst the beauty and excitement of America's past and present.

If you've ever had the opportunity to visit the White House, you know it is not only the President's home and office but also a museum of our country's history. Visitors and staff see the public parts. But we live on the second and third floors, the only places that Bill, Chelsea and I can be alone and private as a family.

You reach the second floor by elevator -- the same one that brought Franklin Roosevelt downstairs in his wheelchair every day and carried Theodore Roosevelt's children's pets, including a pony, up to the living quarters. When you come out of the elevator, you find yourself in one of my favorite parts of the house. It's a long hallway that runs from the window to the east end, where the Lincoln Bedroom is located, to the west end window, which looks out at the Old Executive Office Building.

The morning light streams through the east window into a small sitting area where we sometimes visit with guests or share a light breakfast. We've had lots of guests stay in the Lincoln Bedroom and the Queen's Bedroom across the hall.

The Lincoln Bedroom is one of the most famous rooms in the house but not because President Lincoln ever slept there. In fact, the room was an office during his administration. Before 1900, presidents and their families lived and worked on the second floor. Nowadays, the President and his top staff conduct business in the West Wing, which was built by Theodore Roosevelt. The Oval office was added by his cousin, Franklin.

The reason we call the room the Lincoln Bedroom is because it contains a suite of furniture purchased by Mrs. Lincoln. Her husband was assassinated before they could ever use the bed and dressers themselves. When guests stay there now, they sleep in the magnificent rosewood bed made extra large for Lincoln. They can examine a copy of the Gettysburg Address written in Lincoln's own hand that we keep on a desk in the room. And they can sit around the table he sat at to draft the Emancipation Proclamation. It always thrills me to show this room to visitors because of my admiration for President Lincoln and my empathy for all he and his wife endured, especially the death of their son Tad during their days in the White House.

Winston Churchill, a frequent guest during President Franklin Roosevelt's administration, actually preferred the Queen's room, whose windows look out over Pennsylvania Avenue. When he visited during World War II, he paced its floor, smoking cigars, drinking brandy and writing his speeches. One of my favorite stories (whether or not it's true, I don't know) concerns President Roosevelt rolling himself up a ramp that was installed in the hall for his wheelchair. He knocked on Churchill's door, and when the prime minister told him to come in, he opened the door and found Churchill, drink in hand, standing naked before him. As President Roosevelt started to turn away, Churchill reportedly told him: "Come in. I have nothing to hide from my ally."

Nothing quit like that has happened to me in our four years at the White Hose. However, we have had a few memorable moments, like the time an important guest broke the zipper on her dress right before a formal dinner and ran down the hall in her underwear looking in a panic for something else to wear.

The Treaty Room, where the President's home office is located, is on the same long hall. When we moved in, I had this room redone to bring its decor more in tune with its history. It was once used for Cabinet meetings and was where the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was signed. My husband uses it for meetings and phone calls, especially to foreign leaders late at night or early in the morning. Sometimes, I catch him practicing a few putts on the carpet while he ponders some big problem.

Next door is the Yellow Oval Room, where we receive heads of state and other distinguished visitors and where we put up our own Christmas tree and celebrate special occasions with family and friends. This room is one of my favorites. It is always filled with light and opens onto the Truman Balcony. That was one of the best additions to the house and one for which President Truman was widely criticized at the time. We eat meals and frequently entertain guests out there during warm weather. You can see views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial as well as the burn marks left on the stone by British forces that burned down the house in 1814.

Connected to the Yellow Oval Room is our family room, where we watch television and play cards together. And next to that is our master bedroom and a small dressing room I use for my home office. Across the hall is a small kitchen, a private dining room, a tiny beauty salon (thanks to Pat Nixon) and Chelsea's bedroom and study.

These are the rooms where we live and work. We eat most meals around the kitchen table. I spend a lot of time reading or talking on the telephone from a comfortable chair in the west sitting hall looking out the west window. That's many functions we host during the Christmas season.

-- Creators Syndicate.