"The People's House" Is a Schoolhouse for Civics

A new Washington Treasure focused on educating citizens

Welcome to the many subscribers who have joined since the last edition of the Patowmack Packet. After a brief hiatus while I relocated across the Potomac to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Packet is ready to get back to exploring the National Capital, from its history to the current issues animating life in and around Washington.

This election feels if anything more consuming than others in recent memory, as well as being historic for various reasons: only the second attempt by a former president to reclaim the White House; President Biden’s unprecedented decision to drop out after the primaries; two assassination attempts against President Trump; and possibly unprecedentedly savage political rhetoric by politicians, pundits, and citizens alike. The country seems in desperate need for a return to civil discourse and civic education.

The timing, then, is perfect for the launch of an educational center devoted to just that: “The People’s House: A White House Experience,” created and run by the estimable White House Historical Association (WHHA). The essay below was published originally in Real Clear Politics, an invaluable online resource, and my thanks go to both Stewart McLaurin, president of the WHHA for his insights and for early access to the center, and to Carl Cannon, Executive Editor of RealClear Media Group. The original version can be found here.

(All images from The People’s House)

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As one of the most contentious presidential elections in history heads to the wire, Washington, D.C.’s newest tourist attraction has just opened, and its focus on civic education cannot come at a more critical time. America’s billion-dollar presidential campaigns remain one of the world’s great spectacles, increasingly stoking partisan fury, civil discord, and simple yet poisonous un-neighborliness (like stealing yard signs). To both sides, this is the most dangerous election in American history, comparable to the fateful 1860 campaign that preceded the American Civil War. Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins, half the country will believe the end is nigh.

At this perfervid moment, then, the opening of “The People’s House: A White House Experience” is a welcome step back from the heated political climate. Designed to reveal the history and life inside the world’s most famous home, “The People’s House” is a 33,000-square-foot educational center that explains the functioning of the Executive Mansion while humanizing the First Families who have lived there and the people who have worked behind the scenes. A project of the White House Historical Association, the interactive multimedia center is debuting in perhaps the most fraught election campaign in modern times. If Americans are going to relearn to debate politics instead of yelling, harassing, and shooting each other, then the lessons of democracy taught through the educational exhibits at the White House Experience may be central to that effort.

Located one block from the White House, at 17^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the three-floor center is designed to help Americans be better citizens, according to Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association. The association was founded in 1961 under the auspices of then-First Lady Jackie Kennedy when she began her lauded redecoration of the Executive Mansion. It remains resolutely bipartisan in a brutally partisan age.

The People’s House feels a bit like a trip to Disneyland. It is entirely immersive, using cutting-edge projection technology and interactive exhibits. Visitors are welcomed by a one-fifth scale model of the White House South façade, on whose opposite side each of the residence’s major rooms can be viewed through technology provided by Panasonic. Next, a multimedia space cycles through the major State Rooms of the White House, using 360-degree immersive projection and floor-to-ceiling screens to allow further exploration of people, stories, and historical objects. The highlight for most visitors will be the full-scale replica of the Oval Office, meticulously detailed and decorated in the style of the current president at the time, including a copy of the Resolute Desk, behind which one can sit, dreaming of saving the Union, pushing the nuclear button, or greeting royalty.

The real education takes place on the second floor, where different exhibits and rooms explore the people behind the scenes at the presidential residence, recreate a State Dinner, and includes a “Cabinet Room” where visitors will be able to join in three different historical simulations of real crises, from the outbreak of the Civil War to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Participants can sit at the Cabinet table, hearing from historical re-enactors and being asked to choose which policies the president should follow before learning what action was actually taken.

McLaurin says that, even after heading up the association for 11 years, he still learns something new about the White House every day, an experience visitors will now share. The center is free to all visitors, except for a separate service, which will provide private civics education classes for school-age visitors with historians of the White House Historical Association and other experts. The association raised $56 million to fund the project, and the supporters of the project have displayed through their actions the civic commitment that the White House Experience aims to encourage.

Some of the major donors include billionaire philanthropist and new Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein and Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi, a member of the association’s National Council, who observed that the project “seeks to provide students, educators, and the public with an interactive and innovative experience grounded in White House history.”

Association president McLaurin notes, “We live in a time of so much conflict of information about history,” which is why he says the goal of The People’s House is to help create more informed citizens.

The consequences of our domestic conflicts are being played out in this election, with two attempts on the life of Donald Trump and a poisonous atmosphere that risks creating “a house divided against itself.” The People’s House reminds us instead of what we have in common. Political disagreement cannot be allowed to turn into hatred, nor can we allow political dialogue to be highjacked by mobs who seek to shout down and intimidate their opponents. To create future generations of Americans committed to a peaceful democratic process, the lessons imparted by the new White House Experience should be required for all citizens.