The East Wing Ballroom Is An American Embarrassment
By
Leonard Zwelling
During the Kennedy Administration, First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy gave Americans a personal televised tour of the White House in February of 1962. Here it is and if you have never seen it, it is well worth watching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a09VxtwWIwnnedy
Mrs. Kennedy provided an infusion of taste and intellect to our country that blended well with her husband’s charisma and wicked sense of humor. She was a very classy First Lady. She spoke fluent French and was always in trend-setting clothes.
This broadcast was the first time most Americans had seen many of these places in the White House, a symbol of the American presidency since the early 1800s. John Adams moved in on November 1, 1800, just before he lost re-election. Every President since then has lived in this house. Many have modified the inside. The landscaping and gardens have been altered regularly.
Now the White House has been altered before.
In 1814 the British burned a lot of it requiring repair. Theodore Roosevelt removed a greenhouse and the stables. Harry Truman had to do extensive work on the building to prevent it from falling down. None of that was a voluntary razing of a central part of the original building’s exterior.
On October 22, 2025, the nation learned that the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, has begun the process of demolishing the East Wing of the White House to construct a 90,000 square foot gilded ballroom that, when completed, will dwarf the current structure of the White House itself which is only 55,000 square feet.
To be blunt, this is an abomination. It is an amputation of a part of a national symbol to provide the current occupant yet another shot of ego gratification, something that Trump seems to need like a junkie craves his fix. The rendition of the new structure shown on the NBC Nightly News is ugly, asymmetrical, and a desecration of a place fixed in the American psyche as a seat of power largely unchanged for over two centuries.
The bill for this construction is estimated to be $300 million which is said to be from private funds. You can feed, clothe, and house a lot of people and provide them with health care for $300 million.
If Congress cannot stop this, and I doubt it can, this demolition and construction will create an indelible scar on the capital’s landscape forever, or until an equally corrupt and wealthy President returns the East Wing to its historical structure.
It would not surprise me to learn that soon Mr. Trump will secure land on the National Mall to build a monument to himself next to the Lincoln Memorial. I think he would like to be the fifth head on Mount Rushmore, but we have learned this summer when visiting the now-closed National Park in South Dakota that the mountain cannot hold another figure. Sometime, you just get lucky.
I understand how many Americans believe that the courses of action taken by this president are good for the country. They approve of the ICE raids and the improved security at the southern border. Me, too. I have no idea why anyone can object to deporting non-citizen criminals from the country.
I understand how many Americans approve of Mr. Trump’s tariff plans to punish those countries that he believes have treated the United States unfairly. I do not believe that tariffs are the way to remedy this perceived unfairness, but appreciate the fact that Mr. Trump is reasserting American power.
I understand how many Americans believe that it was long overdue that an American President finally flexed his muscles with NATO and China. I appreciate that, too, and do not necessarily disagree. Without Trump’s willingness to use American and his personal coercive power the Middle East deal would never have come to fruition and the hostages would not have gotten home. I appreciate that, too.
However, all of that does not forgive taking a national symbol and tearing it apart as an ego project and one that no one else thinks is warranted. Somehow the President needs to be prevented from doing this. I don’t know by whom.
I seriously doubt Mr. Trump’s plans can be stopped. It is likely we will have more of this leading up to God only knows what on the Fourth of July next year, our 250th birthday. Will ten thousand troops march down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of this new White House wearing MAGA red helmets?
This is a really sad day for those of us who watched Mrs. Kennedy’s tour. That was a moment of national grace. This is a moment of national disgrace. So sad.
