The White House's conference room, there is a pool under the floor?

I'm running today as well.But even if you reach the White House with a fierce dash, the goal is still ahead.Press conferences and statements often take time to start.Therefore, "information gathering", so -called chatting.The other day, a photographer who worked in the White House for many years told me that there was a pool right below the conference room.Pool?!

I wanted to know the truth and stopped at the White House History Association, a few minutes on foot from the White House.

According to a historian Evan Fayfer, the White House actually had an indoor pool.President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who was often swimming in New York for rehabilitation while fighting a polio disease, was set in 1933 to keep swimming in the White House.

"Help for a pool construction for a loose belt. I need a pool for the health of Franklin D loosevelt, which is trying to derive the country from the muddy swamp in the depression."One aspect of New York Daily News was written with a large photo of the FDR swimming in the pool.He called for New York citizens' affection for FDR by donating the pool, and was posted on the paper on the "Roosevelt Pool Fund" and the sending destinations.

It is said that even children with a piggy bank cooperated in collecting funds that began in this way.Donations gathered at an amazing speed, and only three months later, FDR was already swimming in the White House.

Following FDR, President Kennedy is known for his favorite pool.President Kennedy's father invited a painter as a birthday present to his son, and had a large murals on the three pool walls.At lunchtime, we invited the White House staff to enjoy the pool.Charlie, my dog, swam together.Did President Kennedy talk about the Cuban crisis with the assistant officer Mc George Bandy at the poolside?unknown.

Subsequently, President Johnson used the pool, but for some reason he always swim naked.In addition, it seems that the surroundings were making excuses and escaping because they were forced to do it.One day, a terrible episode was written in a time magazine, inviting a pastor to the pool and praying with water and no panties.

However, President Nixon rarely used the pool.At this time, with the increase in media and the evolution of technology, the demand for opening a conference room was growing.So Nixon decided to close the pool and create a conference room on it.However, due to the circumstances that the people donated and constructed for the president, and respect for the FDR, the pool was remained in a state that could not be dismantled and could be reused when the future president wanted.In other words, although the water was drained, a wooden floor was set up on the pool and was renovated into the conference room.

If you show a photo of the conference room completed in 1970, there are sofas and chairs around the table.It's like a lounge in the hotel.In 1981, he was renovated from a sofa lounge style to a movie theater style lined with seats.In 2000 (at the time of President Clinton), the conference room was named "James Brady Press Breale Fing Room" and has been renovated in 2006.The pool once used by FDR is still under the conference room without being demolished.

85 years since construction.After that, it has been closed for about 50 years.This FDR pool is currently filled with computer servers and cables.The walls include signs and messages such as celebrities, White House staff, and journalists who have visited the White House.There are also signs such as U2 Bono, Laura Bush, and CNN signboard Caster Anderson Cooper.It is usually a non -entry area, and unfortunately it is not included in the White House tour.

In the United States, representative coverage is called the "pool" (the same spell as the swimming pool).For example, the White House reporter's reporter is called "White House Pool", and the interview memo sent from the reporters is called "pool report."Therefore, it is a word that is used repeatedly in the white house.Originally, this word includes the meaning of sharing and shared, such as "Carpur (to ride one car with several people)", and it is accidental to use the word pool on the pool.It's just.

Until 2006, there was a door to open and opened the floor of the conference room, and when I opened it, I was able to go to the pool directly below (for the purpose of accessing the cable and server below).。Indeed, there was access from "pool" to "pool".

I touched on the hidden history, and since then, every time I step into the conference room, I feel like FDR is still swimming down.

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