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continued from page 10 House cards express good cheer in phrases that
Figure 5
Figure 5
may or may not actually mention Christmas. Fig. 4 samples the senti-
ments inside a half-century’s worth of official holiday cards from
Kennedy to Obama, accented with several Christmas mementos intended
for Presidential friends and staff.
After more than a decade of supplying official cards, Hallmark’s
exclusive White House connection was suspended for the duration of
LBJ’s administration. His 1964 and 1965 cards by Robert H. Laessig, a
veteran American Greetings artist, offered original perspectives of the
White House in winter (Fig. 5). A southwestern willow oak in the fore-
ground of the 1964 card (left) acknowledges the President’s Texas roots.
Since then, American Greetings has traditionally supplied the cards for
Democratic administrations, as Hallmark has for the Republicans. Both
businesses take pride in producing the President’s Christmas cards despite
tight deadlines and financial sacrifices. Company executives coordinate closely with
White House staff or even the First Lady to design the perfect card.
Figure 6
By 1965, LBJ had 2,800 on his official mailing list. That year he also sent an addi-
tional 27,800 “reciprocating” cards, mostly as courtesy responses to well-wishers who
had sent greetings to the First Family. Engraved reciprocating cards date back to the
Coolidge and Hoover administrations. Fig. 6 shows two later examples of this type.
LBJ was an ex-President by Christmas 1969. In contrast to the decorative cards he
posted as President, his simple gold-embossed acknowledgment arrived in a small
envelope bearing a printed franking signature. The full Presidential Seal enhanced
Richard Nixon’s final reciprocating card dispatched from the White House in 1973.

It’s All About the Cover
Several administrations favored historical White House views as Christmas card
subjects. For instance, the 50,000 Nixon 1971 cards reproduced a 1930 N.C. Wyeth
advertising poster. Building the First White House shows George Washington inspecting
the construction site with architect James Hoban (Fig. 7).
Nixon and his two successors adopted the similar images seen in Fig. 8. At right,
an 1839 print based on William H. Barlett’s painting, The President’s House, from
Washington, was reproduced by Hallmark for Republican Richard Nixon’s 1972 card.
For his final Christmas in office in
1980, Democrat Jimmy Carter sent
out a then-unprecedented 120,000
American Greetings cards as a thank- Figure 7
you and keepsake to those who had
campaigned and worked for him over
the years. They featured the Oval
Office painting, The President’s
House, by an anonymous artist who
admired Bartlett’s image (right).
For his first White House
Christmas in 1974, just months after
assuming office, Gerald Ford selected
a comparable view (Fig. 8). That
1831 engraving, based upon H.
Figure 8 Brown’s bucolic scene The President’s
House, Washington, included veg-
etable gardens and a drover with
sheep. Ford’s second card repro-
duced 35,000 copies of another
rural setting far from Washington
(Fig. 9). George Durrie’s c. 1825
original, a New England Farmyard in Winter, decorates a wall in the Green Room .
Figure 9 In-house illustrators working at the respective greeting card companies more often
supplied the artwork on vintage Presidential cards. For example, a Hallmark artist
designed the gold foil raised-relief of the North Portico encircled by an embossed
green wreath for the 1970 Nixon card (Fig. 10).
More recently, the First Family or White House staff sometimes directly approach
a favorite independent artist. Or, several artists may be encouraged to
enter an informal competition for the honor of designing the President’s card. An
invitation to the White House Christmas party is the customary pay-off.
For their first Presidential card in 1981, the Reagans commissioned Jamie Wyeth,
son of Andrew, grandson of N.C. His painting, Christmas Eve at the White House, was
reproduced on 65,000 cards (Fig. 11). Returning for the Reagans’ 1984 card,
Christmas Morning at the White House, Wyeth captured squirrel tracks in fresh snow
below the North Portico.
Similarly, Bill and Hillary Clinton invited an artist they both admired,
Connecticut illustrator Thomas F. McKnight, to design a series of White House
Christmas cards. Beginning in 1994 with his fanciful interpretation of the Red Room,
12 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles