Truman Reconstruction of White House - Between 1948 and 1952, President Truman had the interior of the White House completed gutted and reconstructed with modern steel support beams. During this reconstruction, Truman lived across the street in the Blair House. After an assassination attempt on Truman at the Blair House, screens were installed on the windows to provide protection. A little known bit of history is that these screens were made by the Psychiatric Screen Company.
FDR and Eleanor were the longest occupants of White House - Having been the only President elected to four terms in office, President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt lived in the White House longer than any other President. The second longest presidential occupant of the White House has been George W. Bush. This results from the fact that he often stayed at the White House during the presidency of his father George H. W. Bush. George W. Bush was then elected himself to two terms as President.
White House Bomb Shelter and Tunnel to Treasury Department - During World War II, it was decided that it was necessary to construct a bomb shelter under the East Wing of the White House to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the case of an enemy attack. While this bomb shelter was being constructed under the White House, a temporary bomb shelter was hastily constructed under the adjacent U.S. Treasury building consisting of 10 vaults each approximately 1,100 ft. square two floors under the Cash Room in the North Wing of the Treasury building, all protected by a large single vault door. It was accessed by a tunnel with a sloping floor that connected the White House with the Treasury Department building that would allow FDR to be wheeled to it in his wheelchair. This tunnel still connects the White House with the Treasury Department building, but can only be accessed through heavy locked doors.
