Situation Room

The White House Rose Garden is a garden bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., United States. The garden is approximately 125 feet long and 60 feet wide (38 metres by 18 metres, or about 684m²). It balances the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on the east side of the White House Complex. It is commonly used as a stage for receptions and media events due to its proximity to the White House.

The Oval Office Study is the working office of the president of the United States. Located in the West Wing of the White House, it adjoins the Oval Office, the ceremonial office of the president. The Oval Office Study is one of a suite of rooms accessed from a small corridor outside the Oval Office, which includes the president's private lavatory and dining room.

The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., is directly south of the house and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, and along its curved southern perimeter by South Executive Drive and a large circular public lawn called The Ellipse. Since the address of the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and the North Lawn faces Pennsylvania Avenue, the South Lawn is sometimes described as the back lawn of the White House.

The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk and a fireplace at the north end. It has two built-in bookcases, and four doors: the east door opens to the Rose Garden; the west door leads to a private study and dining room; the northwest door opens onto the main corridor of the West Wing; and the northeast door opens to the office of the president's secretary. Presidents generally decorate the office to suit their personal taste, choosing furniture, drapery, and often commissioning their own oval-shaped carpet. Artwork is selected from the White House's own collection, or borrowed from museums for the length of the president's term in office.

Some presidents of the United States have had a red call button in the Oval Office of the White House that could call aides. The earliest incarnation dates to 1881 or before, and the modern call button has been in a wooden box on the Resolute desk since at least the George W. Bush presidency (2001–2009).

On February 17, 1974, United States Army Private Robert K. Preston took off in a stolen Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey" helicopter from Tipton Field, Maryland, and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House in a significant breach of security. Preston had enlisted in the Army to become a helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his opportunity to attain the rank of warrant officer pilot. His enlistment bound him to serve four years in the Army, and he was sent to Fort Meade as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed that this situation was unfair and later said that he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot. Shortly after midnight, Preston, on leave, was returning to Tipton Field, south of Fort Meade. Thirty helicopters at the base were fueled and ready to fly; he took off in one without anti-collision lights on or making the standard radio calls. The Maryland State Police were alerted. Preston flew southwest toward Washington, D.C., where he hovered close to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and over the South Lawn of the White House. He then flew back toward Fort Meade, with two Bell 206 JetRanger police helicopters and police cars in pursuit. After a chase over Maryland, he reversed course toward Washington again and entered the White House grounds. This time, the Secret Service opened fire. Preston was lightly wounded, landed the helicopter, and was arrested and held in custody. Preston pleaded guilty to "wrongful appropriation and breach of the peace" in the plea bargain at his court-martial. He was sentenced to one year in prison, six months of which was time served, and a fine of US$2,400 (equivalent to $13,187 in 2021). After his release, Preston received a general discharge from the army, then lived a quiet life, married, and died of cancer in 2009.

The Cabinet Room is the meeting room for the officials and advisors to the president of the United States who constitute the Cabinet of the United States. The room is located in the West Wing of the White House, adjoining the Oval Office, and looks out upon the White House Rose Garden. Though completed in 1934, the room is built in the Georgian style. The neoclassical ceiling molding with triglyphs was installed in 1934. A series of French doors topped with arched lunette windows are located on the east side of the room. The light switch can be found on the wall, to the right by said doors. A fireplace, flanked by two niches is located on the north side of the room. Busts of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Antoine Houdon fill the niches. Above the mantel hangs a painting titled The Signing of the Declaration of Independence by Charles Édouard Armand-Dumaresq, (French, 1826–1895). Additional portraits along the west wall are chosen by an incumbent president. The large elliptical mahogany table was a gift from President Richard Nixon in 1970. The president and the cabinet secretaries' chairs are copies of a late-eighteenth century design. The president's chair is centered on the table on the east side of the room. The back of the president's chair is two inches taller than those of the cabinet secretaries. Engraved brass plates with the names of the cabinet positions are attached to the back of the chairs. The president's simply says "THE PRESIDENT." The chairs may be purchased by the cabinet members upon leaving office, in case they wish to keep the chair as a souvenir. Some cabinet members have had their chairs returned to the cabinet room for several positions and administrations. In 2006, the room was refurbished somewhat similarly to its appearance during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when the West Wing and current Cabinet Room were largely rebuilt following damages from a fire at the end of the Herbert Hoover administration. This includes Art Deco style wall sconces with spread eagles supporting internally lit globes. Three overhead Moderne style glass pendant lights were recreated from old photographs and a similar surviving example in a hallway between the Oval Office and Roosevelt Room. The room is painted an off-white color called deauville. A custom made carpet, in shades of carmine, old gold, sapphire and fern green with a pattern of overscaled stars and olive leaves was woven for the room. The refurbishment of White House rooms is jointly undertaken by the Curator of the White House, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, and White House Historical Association. Costs relating to construction are often funded by the White House Endowment Trust. The purchase of fine art, historic furniture, or the recreation of period decorative arts, is frequently paid for by the White House Acquisition Trust.

The Truman Balcony is the second-floor balcony of the Executive Residence of the White House, which overlooks the South Lawn. It was completed in March 1948, during the presidency of Harry S. Truman.

The Map Room is a room on the ground floor of the White House, the official home of the president of the United States. The Map Room takes its name from its use during World War II, when Franklin Roosevelt used it as a situation room where maps were consulted to track the war's progress (for such purposes it was later replaced by the West Wing Situation Room). The room was originally finished as part of the extensive renovation of the White House designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt; the former basement billiard room was made into a formal space. In the Truman reconstruction of the White House (1949–1952), the room was paneled in the late Georgian style with wood sawn from the 1816 load-bearing timbers of the house. In the Kennedy administration the room was used by the newly created Curator of the White House as an office, used to catalog donations of furniture and objects. Under the leadership of First Lady Pat Nixon, working with Curator Clement Conger, the room underwent a major redecoration in 1970, transforming it from an office to the parlor which remains today. The room was redecorated again in 1994.The Map Room is furnished in the style of English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale and includes two stuffed-back armchairs that may have been built by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck. Today the room is used for television interviews, small teas, and social gatherings.

The State Dining Room is the larger of two dining rooms on the State Floor of the Executive Residence of the White House, the home of the president of the United States in Washington, D.C. It is used for receptions, luncheons, larger formal dinners, and state dinners for visiting heads of state on state visits. The room seats 140 and measures approximately 48 by 36 feet (15 by 11 m). Originally office space, the State Dining Room received its name during the presidency of James Monroe, at which time it was first extensively furnished. The room was refurbished during several administrations in the early to mid 1800s, and gasified in 1853. Doors were cut through the west wall in 1877. The State Dining Room underwent a major expansion and renovation in 1902, transforming it from a Victorian dining room into a "baronial" dining hall of the early 19th century—complete with stuffed animal heads on the walls and dark oak panelling. The room stayed in this form until the White House's complete reconstruction in 1952. The 1952 rebuilding of the White House retained much of the 1902 renovation, although much of the "baronial" furnishings were removed and the walls were painted celadon green. Another major refurbishment from 1961 to 1963 changed the room even further, more closely approximating an Empire style room with elements from a wide range of other periods. Incremental changes to the room were made throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with major refurbishments of the furnishings in 1998 and 2015.

The West Sitting Hall is located on the second floor of the White House, home of the president of the United States. The room is entered from the second floor Center Hall on the east side of the room. The room features a large lunette window on the west wall looks out upon the West Colonnade, the West Wing, and the Old Executive Office Building. The room is used by first families as a less formal living room than the Yellow Oval Room. White House architect James Hoban's initial 1793 plan and 1814 reconstruction design both placed a double Imperial stair form here, with a single stair rising from the ground floor at the terminus of the Cross Hall and dividing to two stairs returning double runs to the east in the present space. Hoban's original plan was not built as designed, as Thomas Jefferson engaged Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1803 to reverse the orientation of the stair. Latrobe's alteration placed a double run on either side rising from the west to a landing on the east and a single run returning west to the second floor.Alterations in 1869 simplified the stair moving it along the north side of the space and allowing a sitting area to the south. Presidents and first ladies would descend to the Cross Hall below during state dinners and official entertaining. The room was mainly just a grand staircase until President Ulysses Grant had it remodeled, allowing for sitting space by the nearby window.The 1869 staircase was removed during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt as part of a reconfiguration of the White House by architect Charles Follen McKim. McKim's plan removed the west stairway entirely creating room for a much enlarged State Dining Room and moved the ceremonial stair to site of the present Grand Staircase. Eleanor Roosevelt, who screened the area off from the Central Hall, particularly enjoyed it. In the subsequent Truman reconstruction, architects enclosed the hall with solid partitions and created a living room. At that time, the kitchen elevator was extended to this floor, and the door opened into this room; the Kennedy restoration rerouted it into the little hall when the room to the north was converted into the Family Kitchen. During the Truman reconstruction the east wall was rebuilt to include framed double doors allowing the room more privacy.

The White House Christmas Tree, also known as the Blue Room Christmas Tree, is the official indoor Christmas tree at the residence of the president of the United States, the White House. The first indoor Christmas tree was installed in the White House sometime in the 19th century (there are varying claims as to the exact year) and since 1961 the tree has had a themed motif at the discretion of the First Lady of the United States.