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2007
Grover Cleveland,
the twenty-second
(1885-89) and twen-
ty-fourth (1893-97)
President of the
United States. This
ornament centers on
Cleveland first term,
during which the 49-year old bachelor married 2012
21-year old Frances Folsom in a small ceremony 2016:
in the Blue Room. This historic event is the William Howard Taft, the twenty-seventh Herbert Hoover, who served as the thirty-
focus of the 2007 ornament. President of the United States, 1909-13. Taft first president of the United States from 1929-
introduced the automobile to White House 1933. It is inspired by the fire trucks that
transportation in 1909. The ornament depicts responded to the 1929 Christmas Eve fire at the
2008 President and Mrs. Taft in the White Motor White House and the toy engines given to
“We shall have an old-fash- Company’s Model M seven passenger steam- children by the Hoovers the following Christmas.
ioned Christmas Tree for the powered touring car embellished with the Great
grandchildren upstairs, and Seal of the United States on its doors.
I shall be their Santa Claus 2017
myself.” — President 2013 Franklin D.
Benjamin Harrison, the Roosevelt, who
twenty- third President Woodrow served as the thirty-
of the United States, Wilson, the second president of
1889-93. Harrison was twenty-eighth the United States
the centennial president president of the from 1933-945. The
inaugurated 100 years United States, eagle cartouche was
after George Washington. 1913-1921. emblazoned on the
This ornament interprets the first recorded tree Defined by the speaker’s stand at Roosevelt’s first inauguration
to decorate the White House. unprecedented is the inspiration for the main element. The two
devastation left from flags below have 48 stars each, the number of states
World War I, Wilson was in the union during Roosevelt’s four terms. The
2009 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 for his shape is reminiscent a tabletop radio – similar to
Back in the White resolve that the Great War would truly be the those many Americans had in their homes while
House as the twen- war to end all wars. The center is an American listening to the president’s Fireside Chats.
ty-fourth President Elm tree planted by President Wilson on
of the United December 18, 1913, just before Christmas.
States, this second 2018:
ornament for Harry S. Truman, the
Grover Cleveland thirty-third president of the
illustrates the holiday United States. This orna-
celebrations of the ment is designed to illustrate
President’s young family. three significant changes
The warm glow of the first Christmas tree made by President Truman
illuminated by electric lights. during his administration,
one to the Presidential Seal,
2010 and two to the White House itself.
William McKinley,
the twenty-fifth presi- 2014
dent of the United Warren G. Harding, the twenty-ninth
States, 1897-1901. president of the United States, 1921-1923.
Focusing on the role Harding dreamed of being a locomotive 2019
of music and the tra- engineer—a wish that came true for 51 minutes Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth
ditions of the White when he took over the controls on the Alaskan president of the United States. This ornament
House, this is railroad during the “Voyage of Understanding,” symbolizes President Eisenhower’s commitment
remembered as a time when his transcontinental speaking and sightseeing to innovation. Eisenhower was the first president
the nation become an international power. The tour. The ornament is a miniature replica of one to fly in a helicopter while in office, and there-
patriotic mood is depicted with scenes from the of several locomotives that pulled the Presidential after the helicopter became a feature of White
annual Army Navy Reception at the White Special, the coal car that held its fuel, and the House life. It was often used by the president to
House in 1900. Superb, the president’s private Pullman car. commute short distances, demonstrating to the
world that it was safe.
2011 2015:
Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, who served as 2020
the twenty-sixth presi- the thirtieth president of the John Fitzgerald
dent of the United United States from 1923-1929. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth
States, 1901-09. The A depiction of the first National president of the United
front of the ornament is Christmas tree crafted from States from 1961-1963
an illustration derived shiny brass plated with nickel This ornament depicts
from a political cartoon drawn by William A. and 24k gold, illuminated from the posthumous official
Rogers in 1901 capturing the anticipation of the within with ornaments repre- White House portrait,
young family’s first White House Christmas. senting Coolidge’s life events.
made in 1970 by Aaron Shikler.

42 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles