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Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16

provide 100,000 copies of Mark Hampton’s complementary view of the Green Room. Artist Cindi
Holt returned to the Red Room for George W. Bush’s 2004 card (Fig. 14).
Fig. 15 brings us into the seldom-seen private upstairs quarters at the White House. For their
1991 card, George and Barbara Bush invited artist Kamil Kubik, a Czechoslovakian refugee, to
depict their personal family Christmas arrangements in the second-floor Yellow Oval Room. With
the following year’s card, the same artist takes us outside for an impressionistic view of the National
Christmas Tree glowing with patriotic colors (Fig. 16).
A hint of a more somber White House Christmas
marked George W. Bush’s first official card only
three months after the September 11, 2001 attacks
(Fig. 17). Pennsylvania artist Adrian Martinez
depicted several wrapped packages left unopened
beneath an eagle sconce and Mary Cassatt’s painting,
Young Mother and Two Children, in the mansion’s
private second-floor corridor. This card’s message
included a Biblical quote for the first time.
White House interiors appear on several other
Presidential Christmas cards as well. Most have
presented the more familiar public spaces – the East
Room, State Dining Room, and even the Oval
Office. For Barack Obama’s 2011 card, California
artist Mark Matuszak focused on Presidential pooch
Bo enjoying a fireplace in the cozy White House
Library (Fig. 18). The entire First Family, even the
Figure 17 dog, “signed” this card. In keeping with the times, its
reverse certifies that the card
was printed on recycled paper by
union workers.
Mid-century Presidents sent
out several tens of thousands of
cards, as compared with the several Figure 19
hundred thousand mailed by recent administrations each year. As President, LBJ
had to stick a nickel stamp on each of his greetings. The Obamas’ card carried
almost ten times as much postage (49 cents). The substantial costs of designing,
printing, addressing, and sending all those holiday messages are borne by
the President’s political party today. After all, modern cynics perhaps
justifiably consider the White House Christmas card as just one more tool in the
political arsenal.
As noted by Carolyn Kaster, reporter for the Associated Press, “the Trump
family Christmas card features the ‘Merry Christmas’ salutation – a change from
the Obama years, when the annual cards offered more generic sentiments of
‘Season’s Greetings’ or wishes for happy holidays. Trump had vowed to put
‘Christmas’ back at the center
of the holidays. During the presidential
campaign, he complained that saying ‘Happy
Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas’ amount-
ed to ‘chipping away at Christianity.’” (Fig. 19)
Current President Joe Biden’s family
Christmas card for 2021 featured a quote from
Helen Keller – “The best and most beautiful things
in the world cannot be seen or touched, but just felt
in the heart.” The card was designed with the
sentiment, “In remembrance of all Americans
who lost their lives to and in recognition of
essential and frontline workers, first responders,
Figure 18 and our service members and their families.” Figure 20
(Fig. 20)
28 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles