Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 55, originally released in print form in 2019. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. Š 2019 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.
FOREWORD
KEEPING IN SHAPE AT THE WHITE HOUSE
4
golf; Woodrow Wilson played only because his doctor Cary Grayson insisted. Donald Trump and Barack Obama both love golf, and while Trump gives it every effort, Obama seemed to prefer basketball. And presidents have long paid attention to spectator sports, too, first to baseball, then to football—specially favored by Theodore Roosevelt, as this issue reveals. Winning teams and heroes in all kinds of competitions are now honored by invitations to the White House. Sports at the White House are an ongoing subject for White House History Quarterly. This issue looks not only at the sports personally pursued by the presidents but the national pastimes they share in celebrating with the American people.
william seale editor, WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY
white house history quarterly
D AV I D H U M E K E N N E R LY/ G E T T Y I M A G E S
Athletics, even as mere exercise, has been a major feature of White House life from the start. Early presidents walked far more outside than is possible today, given the reality of twentyfirst-century security. One can easily imagine the otherwise ceremonial East Room (85 by 40 feet) as a private place for walking—considered in the early days, as now, the best exercise. The “long galleries” of other grand houses of the early nineteenth century were also meant for indoor exercise as well as ceremony. We have no evidence of athletics on the part of John Adams other than the occasional boasting about his physical prowess. Thomas Jefferson was a fine horseman and devoted pedestrian on Pennsylvania Avenue, which he improved for the purpose with shade trees. All manner of sports have appealed to the nation’s chief executives to break the physical monotony of presidential life laid before them. Ulysses S. Grant played billiards, Theodore Roosevelt took up jujitsu, and Herbert Hoover inspired Hoover Ball, a complicated and strenuous game, somewhat obscure yet still played today. Fishing and golf have been a primary distractions for many, including Dwight D. Eisenhower. William Howard Taft also loved
The press captures each stroke as President Gerald R. Ford enjoys his first of what would become almost daily swims in the new White House pool, just outside the Oval Office, August 5, 1975.
white house history quarterly
5