Featured Image Credit: Kevin Carter / Contributor / Getty
Topics: Politics, Donald Trump
Britt Jones
Donald Trump has seen a lot of backlash over his decision to demolish the White House's East Wing as part of his $300,000,000 ballroom renovation.
The US President, 79, last week revealed that the section was going to be torn down, even after telling people his ballroom plans 'wouldn't interfere with the current building'.
The POTUS first shared his intent to create a $200 million (£151 million) ballroom in July, but it has since increased to a $300 million (£225 million) budget.
Trump called it a ‘much-needed' and ‘exquisite’ addition that would be 90,000 square feet and could seat 650 people.
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While you might think it’s the taxpayer who is funding the project, he claimed he would be reaching into his own pocket, along with a list of donors.
And the news of his changes has actually culminated in him being sued.
As per Newsweek, Charles and Judith Voorhees, from Virginia, filed an emergency motion in federal court on 23 October to stop the project as they claim it violates multiple federal preservation and planning laws.
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The filing was lodged in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and it requests a temporary restraining order to halt defendants 'destruction of the East Wing of the White House… without legally required approvals or reviews'.
But while Trump’s changes to the White House are widely condemned, there was another US President who made permanent changes to the historic building you might not know about.
If you didn’t know, the White House has been known by many different names throughout history.
It was the ‘President's Palace,’ the ‘President's House,’ and even the 'Executive Mansion'.
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However, it was President Theodore Roosevelt who officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.
According to The White House Historical Association, it was on 17 October 1901, that President Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary George B. Cortelyou sent a letter to Secretary of State John Hay.
Cortelyou asked Secretary Hay to change ‘the headings, or date lines, of all official papers and documents requiring his [Roosevelt’s] signature, from 'Executive Mansion' to 'White House'.'
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Cabinet secretaries were also asked the same thing as Roosevelt got busy changing the presidential stationery to match the new name.
While you might think it odd that he went and switched up the name seemingly out of nowhere, the tabloid press did refer to it as the White House on occasion throughout the years, as the building was lime-washed to protect its sandstone at the end of the 1700s.