Talk:White House/Archive 1

message: The sentence about the TV show The West Wing and its set is confusing.  Is it meant that the TV show makes the west wing look larger than it is in real life?  As it stands, the sentence seems to say that the TV show somehow makes the real west wing look bigger.
:I'm rearranging the sentences in the West Wing section; is it really that important that the common understanding of working arrangements was altered by a TV show?  JHCC 15:12, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I stumbled across what looks like the source material for the line about the set versus reality: . Press Secretary McClellan says "I've only been able to watch the TV show a couple of times. One thing I notice that stuck out was the large number of people running around the west wing. There are a relatively small number of maybe 50 - 70 people that work in the west wing and you don't see people running around the hall ways all the time." That sounds to me like it means a small number of people work in the real west wing, and the real one looks less crowded. I admit that the quote has some ambiguity, but I interpret it as described because he presumably knows how many people work in the real west wing. McClellan goes on to say that "The offices and rooms on the show appear to be quite large -- while the west wing is in the center of activity -- the offices and rooms are somewhat small." So regarding the size of the rooms, this sounds less ambiguous  and matches the current state of the article. If it helps anyone, I think the information about the TV show originally appeared on this wiki page on 11 Feb, 2003. If I don't see any further comment about this topic, I will change the article to say "real one has fewer people" in so many words. It feels like overkill to include the whole quote for a small but worthwhile (IMO) bit of information. --Officiallyover 05:41, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  West Wing TV show 

message: Why was John Adams only the first president to live here? User:Patricknoddy User talk:Patricknoddy 16:39 August 22, 2004 (EDT)
:It took 17 years to build the White House (1792 until 1809). George Washington died in 1799, before construction was finished. John Adam moved in while construction was still going on. →Raul654 21:47, Aug 22, 2004 (UTC)
the comment 'With inflation, this would be approximately equivalent to $2.4 million today.' is very interesting, but since 'today' keeps changing (along with the inflationary value of the dollar), why don't we change this to be a fixed date?
e.g.: With inflation, this would be approximately equivalent to $2.4 million 2004 dollars.
It should also be noted as the unofficial headquarters of Halliburton.
:*No, it shouldn't. This is utter nonsense. That is why every time you attempt to add it to the main article, it is being removed. --Durin 00:33, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Presidents 

message: The Truman balcony on the south portico actually slightly predates the renovation of 1948, contrary to what the article says, but I'm not sure how that should be worked into the article.  Schuminweb 05:30, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Truman Balcony

message: Is there room in the article for the fact that the floor plan of the White House was changed during the Truman administration reconstruction, and that such rooms as the "Lincoln Bedroom" were so named at that time?  I seem to remember a mini-scandal when one guest or another was accomodated in that room. Too Old 01:52, 2005 Jun 23 (UTC)
:That's my understanding - that the Lincoln Bedroom was so named during the Truman renovation.  In Lincoln's time, the room was Lincoln's office, and it served other functions before and since.  So the "Lincoln" designation is appropriate, having served as Lincoln's office.
:As for changes to the floor plan, as I understand it, the floor plan was not changed significantly, with any changes mostly being minor things like turning the West Sitting Hall into a true room, and turning the Center Hall into a sitting room as well.  Both of these rooms that I mentioned, by the way, are on the second floor.  The only major exception was the grand staircase, which was repositioned to open into the Entrance Hall, instead of the Cross Hall as it did before.  But otherwise, they stuck quite faithfully to the floor plan as renovated by Theodore Roosevelt.  Schuminweb 04:48, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  The "Lincoln Bedroom"