My tour of the West Wing

Nov 26, 2019, 2:57 PM

Yo,

So on Friday evening, my wife and I had a private tour of the West Wing. Yeah, as in the White House. It was, in a word, fascinating. I learned a lot and observed some fascinating American history. I'm going to share my experience and what I learned from the Secret Service about this president and the history. I'll recite these observations as just facts with no opinion or commentary. The SS agent had a plethora of knowledge and stories to tell us.

-We got to see the Oval Office. We didn't get to walk in, but the agent let us put our feet on the floor under the velvet rope so we could say we set foot in it.
-Behind Trump's desk was a large array of what appeared to be family photos, including a black and white of a woman I assumed to be his mother.
-The drapes are left over from Clinton (gold), the rug from Reagan, and the couches from Dubya.
-On Trump's coffee table sat a model of the new Air Force One.
-Seeing the Bronco Buster statue and Churchill's bust in there was cool (okay, so that's commentary). Churchill is the only non-American bust in the White House.
-The Oval Office appears smaller than you think from the doorway, as the agent noted, but he said once you're inside, it's not like that.
-On the ceiling, the stars surrounding the presidential seal are not American five-point stars. They're Italian. The designer during the Truman admin who put them in was Italian. Truman was furious and wanted them changed, but the budget allowed for only that change or the Truman Balcony. He went with the balcony.
-When Trump first became president, he went into the Roosevelt Room (used to be the old presidential office and is across from Oval Office). There are large, heavy flags of each branch of the military in there. They have decorative streamers coming from the top that signify all battles (I saw a Little Big Horn one on the Army). Trump loved them so much, he wanted them in the Oval Office. The Secret Service caught him trying to lift one of the heavy flags all by himself. They had to stop him and do it for him. Then they had to correct his arrangement of the flags since they have to be placed in a particular order. Then they ordered new ones for the Roosevelt Room.
-The Oval Office desk is incredible and full of history. One story is that Reagan was too big for the desk and kept hitting his knees. While away on diplomacy one time, the Secret Service had the desk raised as a surprise. But Reagan never noticed and never said anything about it.
-In the Cabinet Room, the president's chair back is slightly taller than everyone else's. I didn't find out if that is a Trump thing or something for all presidents.
-The Roosevelt Room has two huge paintings, one of FDR at his desk and one of Teddy on horseback in military uniform. The tradition in the White House is that if a Republican occupies the building, Teddy is placed over the mantle. If a Dem, FDR goes there. Obama broke the tradition because he thought the Teddy painting was really awesome and wanted it to stay up there.
-During the Kavanaugh vote, Trump had a huge amount of guests. Many watched it live in the Roosevelt Room. Trump went with others to another conference room where they watched it on TiVo and didn't know they had it on a 15-minute delay. So the Secret Service would hear a cheer from one room and then the same cheer 15 minutes later.
-The Situation Room was off limits, obviously. There were signs posted about no recording devices, and this is because of the Omarosa incident.
-Next to the little dining room in the West Wing, there's a coffee area... and they have one of those soda mixing machines like you see at Zaxby's!
-I peed in a White House bathroom. A lot of gold plating and such. It was as classy as you would expect the White House potty to be. I needed to poop but people were waiting on me and the acoustics were bad, so I held it. But I would have liked to poop in the West Wing.
-The halls were adorned with several pictures of Trump, his wife, and Pence. IMO, very good photography quality.
-It was surreal to see original Normal Rockwell paintings in what the agent called the "Million Dollar Hallway".
-None of the Secret Service agents could tell us who the new press secretary is (Stephanie Grisham). Nor did our SS guide know John Bolton's replacement (Robert C. O'Brien). The SS agent said with a laugh, "So many people come and go here, it's hard to keep up with them."
-The Secret Service guys were in good spirits and joked a lot. Maybe since it was Friday night and everything was pretty relaxed.
-The SS recruits hard from the Citadel, and I met one who went there and had been an SC State Trooper.
-Trump spends more time in the Rose Garden than most previous presidents. He just likes it a lot, apparently.
-I saw the press tents. They call it "Pebble Beach" simply because the area used to be a pebble walkway.
-The agent once had to get a little, shall we say, aggressive while holding his rifle with a new, young reporter one time when she came sprinting toward one of the guard houses. She didn't mean any harm but had to be coached afterward on how you can't run towards things at the White House.
-According to the SS, the White House reporters are quite messy.
-Mick Mulvaney has a substantial liquor stash and throws a lot of parties.
-There's a really cool model of the U.S.S. Constitution in one of the halls of the WH.
-There's a large mirror that had been drywalled over that was discovered during renovations.
-An old mirror from an 1800s battleship (he couldn't remember the name) hangs near the Oval Office. They don't clean it, so it's pretty dirty. Cleaning it would wipe off history, he said.
-We also toured the Executive Building next door, which is astoundingly beautiful and full of intricate design. I can't even imagine the price tag on it. The detail used to construct it is absurd. Each room has intricate wood carving throughout. Several paintings of past presidents, officials, etc., and other priceless artifacts just litter the shelves. Honestly, I found this building more impressive than the White House itself.
-We could take whatever pictures we wanted in that building. No pictures inside the White House (they have cubbies for your phones). We were allowed to pose for pics in front of the entrance to the WH where the president and his staff walk in, and we could take a pic of the White House from the press area and side guard station.

No, I can't tell you how we got the tour. Just knew the right people. But it was definitely amazing. I never thought I would get to stick my foot in the Oval Office.

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My tour of the West Wing

Okay, so...

awesome experience***

Re: My tour of the West Wing

Fun read. Thanks for sharing!***

did you see Kevin Youngblood?

how bout more about Mick and his liquor and his parties?

Re: My tour of the West Wing

Nice!***

Too bad you couldn’t poop

Re: Too bad you couldn’t poop

Re: Too bad you couldn’t poop

Awesome, and good job on not causing any

I'm so jealous right now.

Too bad you couldn’t sit on the roof where Willie Nelson

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