Welcome to the first installment of "Where the heck is this?" the fastest-growing White House trivia game on the Web. Today's mystery: this photo was taken of three presidents at the time of the state (vice-state? semi-state? cum laude?) funeral for Hubert Humphrey in 1978, but where the heck was the picture taken? It's driving me nuts. The combination of doors, arch transom, fireplace, and table is baffling.Feel free to reply as a comment to this post. Nobody is using the comments feature for some reason.
UPDATE: The comment mystery is solved at least. I had user validation turned on.
SOLVED: Jack M writes: I located the Time Magazine from Jan. 30, 1978 with another picture and article by Hugh Sidey, the late Presidential Historian. It reads in part......
Almost with eagerness, Carter, Ford and Nixon followed Baker into an anteroom for a historic picture of the three. In a few minutes it was time for these people to take their places beneath the Capitol dome to honor Hubert Humphrey. Not since Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy came together in Bonham, Texas at the funeral of Sam Rayburn in 1961 has such a gathering occurred.
I was living in Minnesota at the time of Humphrey's death and remember it well. His principal funeral service was conducted in St. Paul and President Carter was present and spoke. However, there was also a memorial at the U.S. Capitol while Humphrey's body lay in state. My thought is that perhaps this photo was taken not at the White House, but somewhere in the U.S. Capitol. It appears to be a "holding" room for these 3 President's of the United States.
ReplyDeleteOn second thought and closer examination, I believe it may very well be the room that is now labled President's Dining Room. It was Jimmy Carter's private office during his term. The fireplace and the door to its immediate side line up well with other photos. The fan window above the door may have been covered up between then and now. They have a way of doing that at the White House.
ReplyDeleteHey Dennis! Great to see another fan of the house. The president's dining room is a possibility. I wonder though if the door isn't in fact too far away from the wall for it to be the dining room. Plus through the fan window I believe I see some blue sky at dusk happening. Just my 2 cents. I have studied the photo and my gut tells me it isn't the WH like Dennis siad in his first comment.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of Carter-era dining room shots, and the decor seems wrong. I'm leaning toward the Capitol now; I hadn't considered that before. John A suggested in an e-mail that it could be Blair House, which seems reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI think more and more that it is the President's Dining Room. Check the diagram on the west wing page; the doors shown fit the picture. Also, note the clock in the orignal picture and in two pictures of the President's dining room. It seems to be the same clock.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look like the same clock to me. The clock in the President's study has a small golden eagle on the top whereas the pic above does not. And the door is really too far away from the wall. And there is no other time in any supporting picture where there was ever a fan-window in that area. Maybe Nixon and Ford were staying at Blair House?
ReplyDeleteVisitor Jack cites a Time magazine (Jan 78) to say that the room is a Capitol "holding room."
ReplyDeleteI am amazed that Visitor Jack has access to a Jan '78 Time magazine!
ReplyDeleteApparently the mystery is solved. This is not the only picture taken by/at the White House which defies location. In my very first post on this site, I mentioned Clinton's music room. I could not figure out which White House room would have steps going up to wherever. It was this site that answered the question.
I hope someone reading this can help me.... I know it is off-topic but concerns HHH's funeral. I have been unable to find (by googling) a program for his 1978 funeral, to include the names of the choirs and the music played.
ReplyDeleteCan someone help? Thank you.
http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/
ReplyDelete1978-1/1978-01-15-NBC-3.html