Page 46 - JOA 12-20

Presidential Holiday Cards

by Bill Thornbrook

ne December day it appears in the mailbox with other holiday greetings. Something sets
Figure 1
this envelope apart, says it’s special. The return address catches the eye. Yes, just three
Owords imprinted on a single line – THE WHITE HOUSE. Your Christmas card from
the President has arrived!

The Start of a Modern White House Tradition
Today’s Presidential holiday cards evolved during the mid-20th century from modest
beginnings. Mary Evans Seeley, author of Season’s Greetings from the White House (fifth
edition, 2005), traces the tradition to 1927. That year Calvin Coolidge penned a brief
Christmas message to the American people on a sheet of White House stationery that was
reproduced in newspapers across the nation.
Through the 1930s and 1940s, the Hoovers and the Roosevelts placed orders for
a few hundred “official” Christmas cards embellished with small black-and-white
photographs and engraved good wishes. These greetings accompanied modest holiday gifts
for White House employees.
Certain years might bring the mansion staff an inscribed photograph or an ornate
Presidential “proclamation” celebrating the season. In 1950, for instance, the Govern ment
Printing Office prepared 1,000 colorful 9” x 12” broadsides on textured paper bearing the
President’s message with facsimile signatures of Harry and Bess Truman (Fig. 1).
Becoming President in 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower expanded the official Christmas
card list to include not only White House personnel but also his Cabinet, the Congress,
other high-ranking officials, and foreign heads of state. Hallmark designed the cards with a
simple “Seasons Greetings” and date beneath the Presidential Seal.

The Kennedy Years
First-term Senator John F. Kennedy’s holiday card pictured his photogenic
family in 1959, a year before his election as President (Fig. 2). In the White House, the
Figure 2 Kennedys initially continued Ike’s practice of posting about 800 understated “Seasons
Greetings.” But the young President soon departed from this staid format. His 1962 card
showcased a charming snapshot of the mansion’s South Lawnon a wintry day as Jackie rode
with one of their children in a sleigh pulled by daughter Caroline’s pony, Macaroni.
An elaborate creche display in the East Room graced the Kennedys’ 1963 Presidential
Christmas card, the first to feature an overtly religious image. A portion of the Hallmark
order arrived at the White House in mid-November 1963, just days before the President
and First Lady went to Dallas. Prior to their departure, the Kennedys hand-signed only
about 30 of the 750 cards left blank for that purpose. Those cards, together with an addi-
tional 1,600 with pre-printed signatures, were never sent. Instead, they went into storage
after the President’s assassination. A few have re-surfaced since the mid-1980s (Fig. 3).
The tragedy unexpectedly thrust Lyndon B. Johnson into the Oval Office little more
than a month before Christmas. The new President opted to send top government officials
and foreign dignitaries a reserved white card with raised eagle seal and a thin red border as
his official 1963 greeting. Prepared by Hallmark on short notice, the cards’ interiors
conveyed alternate versions of a basic holiday greeting from the President and Mrs. Johnson.

Adding History &
Meaning
Addressing the sensitivities of
the President’s many constituen-
cies—Christian/non-Christian,
Figure 3 religious/secular, domestic/foreign
—the Kennedy and Johnson
White House cards had carried
alternate inscriptions. For example,
JFK’s 1962 cards offered three
options: “Christmas Greetings and
best wishes for a Happy New Year,”
“Season’s Greetings,” or “Best
wishes for a Happy New Year.”
Subsequent administrations
abandoned these cumbersome
attempts to match message to
Figure 4 recipient. Contempo rary White

continued on page 46
44 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles