Vintage Moments: Harry's Herringbone in the White House

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Photo by Abbie Rowe, National Park Service, courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library

When Harry S. Truman became president in 1945, he inherited a world war, a shifting economy and an iconic mansion in dire need of repair. According to the White House Museum, "Floors no longer merely creaked; they swayed. The president's bathtub was sinking into the floor… Engineers declared the whole house to be in imminent danger of collapse." This photo of workers laying herringbone floors in the third-floor corridor was taken Dec. 4, 1951, after the entire interior was torn out starting in December 1949, leaving only a cavernous shell. Renovations were completed in March 1952.

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