James S. Brady press briefing Room - Wikipedia James S. Brady press briefing Room President George W. Bush participates in the unveiling of the new Brady Briefing Room on July 11, 2007. Map of the West Wing with James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in blue The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room is a small theater in the West Wing of the White House where the White House Press Secretary gives briefings to the news media and the President of the United States sometimes addresses the press and the nation. It is located between the workspace assigned to the White House press corps and the office of the Press Secretary. History Between the presidency of Woodrow Wilson to 1969, communications from the President and general press news conferences took place in the Indian Treaty Room, the State Department auditorium and the White House East Room. In 1969, to accommodate the growing number of reporters assigned to the White House, President Richard Nixon had the indoor swimming pool, which had been installed by the March of Dimes for Franklin D. Roosevelt, covered and turned into press offices and a lounge that could double as a briefing room. In 2000, the room was renamed the `` James S. Brady Press Briefing Room '' in honor of James Brady, the press secretary who was shot and permanently disabled during an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Renovation In December 2005, the White House announced the intention to renovate the aging Press Briefing Room and cramped press corps offices. On August 2, 2006, the final briefing was held, and President George W. Bush hosted several previous press secretaries at a closing ceremony and there was some hesitation and concern about whether the press would be allowed to return to the White House. In the interim the White House Conference Center was used as temporary location for press conferences. President Bush reopened the renovated room in a ribbon - cutting ceremony on the morning of July 11, 2007. He held his first formal press conference in the new briefing room the next day, following the release of a report on the progress of the Iraqi government. The modernization cost nearly $8.5 million. Of that sum, $2.5 million was funded by the media, and the remainder was funded by tax dollars. Each correspondent 's seat was priced at $1,500. Beneath the current press room lies the former White House swimming pool that has since become a computer server room. The most noticeable change to the briefing room is a different backdrop for the press conferences, now featuring a softly lit screen flanked by mock columns instead of the previous blue curtain. The new podium also contains video screens for teleconferencing and multimedia displays. For safety reasons, the trapdoor that provided access to the old swimming pool ( a popular stop for visitors ) was replaced by a discreet staircase. Despite complaints about the previous briefing room 's lack of space, the current briefing room has only one more press seat than it did prior to renovation. Seating chart The seating assignments are organized by the White House Correspondents ' Association, not by the White House press staff. Current White House James S. Brady Press Briefing Room seating chart Row Podium 6 7 NBC Wall Street Journal Agence France - Presse MSNBC Bloomberg BNA Washington Examiner Talk Media News / Univision Fox News CBS Radio AP Radio Foreign Pool Time Yahoo ! News Dallas Morning News CBS News Bloomberg McClatchy Washington Times SiriusXM Salem Radio Globe / Roll Call AP NPR AURN The Hill Regionals Newsmax CBN ABC News Washington Post Politico Fox News Radio CSM / NY Post Daily Mail BBC / OAN Reuters NY Times Chicago Tribune VOA RealClearPolitics HuffPost / NY Daily News BuzzFeed / Daily Beast CNN USA Today ABC Radio National Journal Al Jazeera / PBS Westwood One Financial Times / Guardian The seating chart as of July 10, 2017. White House Correspondents ' Association References Jump up ^ `` Presidential Press Conferences ''. whitehousehistory.org. Jump up ^ Collins, Dan ( August 2, 2006 ). `` Bush, Media Bid Press Room Farewell ''. CBS News. Retrieved 2012 - 05 - 09. ^ Jump up to : Watson, Robert P. ( 2004 ). Life in the White House : A Social History of the First Family and the President 's House. SUNY Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780791460986 -- via Google Books. Jump up ^ Vande Hei, Jim ( December 27, 2005 ). `` White House Press Room To Be Closed For Makeover ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 9, 2012. Jump up ^ Yellin, Jessica ( August 2, 2006 ). `` White House Press Briefing Room Redo ''. ABC News. Retrieved May 9, 2012. Jump up ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay ( August 3, 2006 ). `` White House Evicts Press, Temporarily. No, Really ''. The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2012. Jump up ^ Spetalnick, Matt ( July 11, 2007 ). `` Bush to Press : Welcome back. No questions, Please ''. Reuters. Retrieved May 9, 2012. Jump up ^ Patterson, Bradley Hawkes ( 2002 ). The White House Staff : Inside the West Wing and Beyond. Brookings Institution Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780815769514. Jump up ^ Dean, John W. ( 2005 ). Worse Than Watergate : The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush. Hardie Grant Publishing. p. 69. ISBN 9781740662222. Jump up ^ Shafer, Jack ( July 21, 2010 ). `` Blow Up the White House Briefing Room ''. Slate. Retrieved July 4, 2012. 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Question: who added a press room to the white house
Answer: President Richard Nixon; President Richard Nixon; Richard Nixon; Richard Nixon; President Richard Nixon