The White House’s iconic Rose Garden gets a makeover under Trump

John Yang:

In his second term, President Trump is putting his mark on the White House, making changes to the building and its grounds. Just this week, he unveiled the Presidential Walk of Fame along the West Wing colonnade. It features portraits of each of the previous commanders in chief, except for one.

In place of President Biden's portrait is a photo of an auto pen signing his name. Elsewhere, work has begun on a grand ballroom, and even the iconic Rose Garden has gotten a new look. Ali Rogan is back with that story.

Donald Trump, U.S. President:

I am officially declaring a national emergency.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

It's hosted addresses to the nation in uncertain times, bill signings.

Bill Clinton, Former U.S. President:

Family and medical leave is a matter of pure common sense.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Weddings. And this month, another history making moment.

Donald Trump:

This is the Rose Garden. We never touched a rose. The roses are in full bloom.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

A garden of roses by the same name and smelling just as sweet, but with many changes. There's new patio furniture and umbrellas with bright yellow accents resembling President Trump's club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. There's a newly laid slab of concrete. And for the people's house, some members only flare.

Donald Trump:

You know, you're the first ones on this great place. We call it the Rose Garden Club, and it's a club for senators, for Congress people, and for people in Washington.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

The President said the changes would make space more accessible and easier to navigate. Mr. Trump announced the new Rose Garden Club during a dinner of about 100 people, a mostly partisan crowd made up of Republican lawmakers and top White House staffers.

But after the unveiling, public opinion was divided, some headlines calling it tacky, focusing on the stark paving job, some historians take a longer view.

Stewart McLaurin, White House Historical Association:

The White House history is living history, and certainly so much of American history takes place there can be told through the prism of White House history. But it evolves and it changes.

Ali Rogin:

Stewart McLaurin is the president of the White House Historical Association, a non-profit organization founded to help preserve the Executive Mansion and its contents, as well as educate the public about its history.

Stewart McLaurin:

We forget that this is a house to the president and his family. It's an office to the president and his staff. It's a ceremonial stage upon which welcome our most important visitors from around the world. It's also a museum that about 500,000 people a year have the privilege of going through. Imagine all of that happening in your home.

Ali Rogin:

In fact, once upon a time, the Rose Garden was just a garden, growing produce for the White House kitchen and acting as a pasture for dairy cows and sheep.

Man:

Mr. Kennedy taking the oath administered by the chief Justice.

Ali Rogin:

It wasn't until 1961, when the Kennedy family moved in and took on the task of restoring and modernizing the White House, that the garden took on a more official role. President Kennedy envisioned the space as an extension of the White House, one where he could address a crowd or entertain guests.

But those changes also came with their share of public commentary.

Stewart McLaurin:

President Kennedy was concerned that there would be press criticism or this money is being spent. What will people think? And there were articles in the newspaper about what is Mrs. Kennedy doing to the White House. There were concerns raised when she did her Rose Garden renovation in the 1960s as well.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

That renovation ended abruptly with Kennedy's assassination in 1963, but subsequent presidents and first ladies took up the mantle.

Stewart McLaurin:

There have been presidents since John and Abigail Adams that have lived in this house. They've been of all political persuasions, conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat. And yet the house has emerged and sustained to be the great house of the American presidency. And it will continue to be that for generations to come.

Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Their surroundings may change, but the White House roses bear witness to it all. For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin.