Grover Cleveland and the First Electric Christmas Lights in the White House

Louis L. Picone October 13, 2020 Grover Cleveland and the First Electric Christmas Lights in the White House On Christmas Day 1894, President Grover Cleveland celebrated in the White House with his family, cabinet members and their families. The generous president gave each of his friends a “fat turkey” and for his servants he offered “substantial gifts of money,” surely welcome as the country was suffering through one of the worst economic downturns in its history.1 Certainly everyone had a wonderful time; counting their blessings and perhaps offering a toast for a return to prosperity the next year. While the adults socialized, the children enjoyed a “pretty little luncheon.” After the guests departed, the president sat for dinner with his family; his two daughters, his wife, and her mother. They dined on fresh duck, killed by the president himself on a recent hunting trip.2 When Grover Cleveland was in office, Christmas in the White House was not the grand national event it is today, but rather, each president celebrated the holiday and decorated the Executive Mansion in their own way. Cleveland entered office in 1885 as a bachelor and while he was married in 1886, the couple did not have children during his first term and therefore did not erect a Christmas tree in the White House. But by 1894, the Clevelands were blessed with two beautiful daughters, three-year-old Ruth and one-year-old Esther (the only child of a President born in the White House), and placed a tree in the Second Floor Oval Room, located in the family quarters and then used as a parlor and library. The small Christmas tree was of particular interest and a reporter from the Los Angeles Express extolled, “Mrs. Cleveland added the finishing touches to the tree which, while not of great proportions, was beautifully trimmed and decorated.” However, the young First Lady also included a touch of modernity into the otherwise “old-fashioned” event when she replaced Page 1 Louis L. Picone October 13, 2020 Grover Cleveland and the First Electric Christmas Lights in the White House traditional wax candles with “tiny partli-colored electric lamps.”3 Grover Cleveland is the president of many firsts. He was the first Democrat elected since the Civil War; first to be elected to non-consecutive terms, first president to be married in the White House and the first to have a child while president, and now he could add one more: This was the first time electric lights were ever hung on a Christmas tree in the White House. By this time Christmas lights were already over a decade old as they had been invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park laboratory in New Jersey in 1880. Two years later his partner at Edison’s Illumination Company, Edward H. Johnson, improved the design when he “hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and wound them around his Christmas tree.”4 Just like many White House traditions, the Christmas tree has evolved over the years from its humble beginnings. It was Cleveland’s predecessor, Benjamin Harrison, who is credited with erecting the first Christmas tree for his young grandchildren in 1889. Harrison was enthusiastic about the holidays and even dressed as Santa Claus (no fake beard necessary!) for the youngsters. But when electric lights were first installed in the White House two years later, Harrison and his wife Caroline were afraid of the innovation and “refused to operate [the switches] for fear of a shock.”5 It is therefore unsurprising that the Harrisons preferred the real risk of a fire from wax candles rather than use electric Christmas tree lights. Frances, our youngest First Lady and thirty-two years junior to Caroline Harrison, apparently had no such fears and exuberantly fused modern technology with classic Christmas traditions. Today Christmas at the White House is a grand event in which the country is invited to participate either as one of the fortunate few invited guests, among the thousands who tour the White House during the holiday season, or the millions who peek inside the home virtually Page 2 Louis L. Picone October 13, 2020 Grover Cleveland and the First Electric Christmas Lights in the White House through online or televised events. In 2019, the White House featured an official Christmas tree in the Blue Room that towered over eighteen feet tall as well as dozens of smaller trees decorated in various themes such as a “cherished Gold Star Family Tree” and four “star-spangled trees.”6 While the décor on the trees varies, one thing they each have in common are strings of electric Christmas lights, a tradition that started in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland and First Lady Frances Cleveland. About the author Louis L. Picone is the award-winning author of Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon as well as The President Is Dead! The Extraordinary Stories of the Presidential Deaths, Final Days, Burials, and Beyond and Where the Presidents Were Born: The History & Preservation of the Presidential Birthplaces. He holds a Masters in History and also teaches American history at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. Louis is a member of the Authors Guild, the American Historical Association, and is a trustee on the board of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association in Caldwell, New Jersey. Page 3 Louis L. Picone October 13, 2020 Grover Cleveland and the First Electric Christmas Lights in the White House 1 “Grover’s Tree,” Express (Los Angeles), December 25, 1894. 2 “Think Melania’s red forest is kooky? Consider the Christmas tree once hidden in a White House closet. White House Christmas decorations through the years,” Washington Post, November 27, 2018. 3 “Grover’s Tree,” Express (Los Angeles), December 25, 1894. 4 “Who invented electric Christmas lights?,” Library of Congress, Published November 19, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/who-invented-electric-christmas-lights. 5 “In what year was electricity installed in the White House?,” The White House Historical Association, Accessed October 13, 2020. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/questions/in-what- year-was-electricity-installed-in-the-white-house. 6 “First Lady Melania Trump Unveils Christmas at the White House 2019,” White House, Issued December 2, 2019. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/first-lady-melania-trump- unveils-christmas-white-house-2019. Page 4 

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