National Christmas Tree (United States)
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In the United States, a large tree near the White House is decorated as the National Christmas Tree. The switching-on of the Christmas lights on the tree by the American President early in the Christmas season is an annual televised event and a month-long festivities known as the Pageant of Peace. Nearby smaller trees and other decorations leading up to the National Christmas Tree are referred to as the Pathway to Peace.
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[edit] History
The tradition of having a "National Christmas Tree" in Washington, D.C. began in 1923 during the presidency of Calvin Coolidge. That year, a 48-foot Balsam Fir from Vermont, Coolidge's home state, was donated by Paul D. Moody, President of Middlebury College in Vermont, and placed in the Ellipse outside the White House. At 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, standing at the foot of the tree, President Coolidge briefly addressed a crowd and lit up the tree electrically with a touch of a button. 2,500 electric bulbs in red, white and green, donated by the Electric League of Washington, illuminated the tree.
In 1924, the National Christmas Tree became known as the National Community Christmas Tree and lighting ceremony was moved to Sherman Plaza near the east entrance of the White House, where a 35-foot Norway Spruce donated by the American Forestry Association was planted. A bronze marker was placed at the base of this tree in 1927, marking it as the "National Community Christmas Tree." This tree was found to be damaged due to the process of trimming and the repeated stress caused by the heat and weight of the lights and was replaced in 1929 by another Norway spruce from New York. This second Norway spruce was similarly damaged and replaced with a 25-foot one replanted from the nursery of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks in the spring of 1931.
In 1932, concealed loudspeakers were installed in the tree to play Christmas carols, starting a tradition which continued for decades. The tree was popularly known as the "Singing Tree" and attracted thousands of visitors.
Due to landscaping changes in Sherman Plaza, the ceremonies were moved in 1934 to Lafayette Park just north of the White House. At the ceremonies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pointed to the statues of German, Polish and French Revolutionary War heroes in Lafayette Park as types of diversity found among the American people, saying that the spirit of Christmas knows no race or creed. Instead of using the same tree every year, one of the 23-foot firs from North Carolina next to the Andrew Jackson Statue was used in alternate years between 1934 and 1938 to preserve the trees. New star-shaped lights were used to decorate the tree in 1935, but some were stolen over the course of the week, necessitating the installation of an eight-sided fence the following year to protect the tree from vandals.
In 1939 and 1940, the National Community Christmas Tree celebration returned to the more spacious Ellipse Grounds to the south of the White House. Each year, a living, 36-foot red cedar was transplanted from Virginia and was replanted after the New Year holidays.
Two live, 30-foot Oriental Spruces were planted 100 feet from the south fence of the White House to be used in alternate years beginning 1941. That year, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom happened to be at the White House for a war council meeting on Christmas Eve and took part in the lighting ceremony. Because of wartime restrictions during World War II, no new ornaments were purchased and old ornaments, many donated by schoolchildren in the Washington area, were used to decorate the tree. The National Community Christmas Tree was not lit for security reasons -- the President used the switchbox symbolically -- till after the war concluded in 1945, when the lighting by President Harry S. Truman was considered the signal for lighting thousands of trees in communities across the country. In 1946, the lighting ceremony, broadcast on radio since 1925, became a televised event.
From 1948 to 1951, President Truman spent his Christmas holidays at his home in Independence, Missouri and lit the National Community Christmas Tree by remote control. In 1952, he stayed at the White House for the lighting ceremony when he made a plea for world peace and prayed for the nation's enemies amid the Korean War, which ended months afterwards.
By 1953, the radio broadcast and the telecast of the tree lighting program had developed to be very comprehensive. The ceremony was watched on television "by millions," and the President's address was broadcast through the Voice of America in thirty-four languages. As the event grew in popularity, local businessmen in the Washington, D.C. area became involved and greatly expanded the program, and the Christmas Pageant of Peace began in 1954. The Pageant centered around the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree, which for the first time in 1954 did not occur on Christmas Eve, and included various elements such as a life-sized reproduction of the nativity scene, a large stage, a children's corner, and in some years live reindeer from the Washington National Zoo. Every year from 1954 to 1972, a new cut tree was brought to the White House from a different U.S. state and installed at the Ellipse for the duration of the program. The ceremony of the tree lighting was then followed by weeks of daily and nightly Christmas presentations through January 1 each year. The Pathway to Peace, leading to the National Community Christmas Tree, was bordered by smaller Christmas trees representing various states and U.S. territories.
Having used cut trees from around the country since 1954, the Christmas Pageant of Peace reintroduced a living tree into the ceremony in 1973, responding to hundreds of letters from individuals and environmental groups around the country requesting that conservation concerns be addressed. A 42-foot Colorado blue spruce from Pennsylvania donated by the National Arborist Association was planted in the Ellipse earlier that year. In order to conserve energy, the 1973 tree was decorated primarily with non-energy-consuming decorations such as garlands and balls. With less weight and heat on the branches, this also helped preserve the tree. Yet, this tree deteriorated within a few short years and was replaced with a 34-foot Colorado blue spruce from Maryland in 1977. Unfortunately, the 1977 tree was destroyed in a windstorm months afterwards. A 30-foot Colorado blue spruce from York, Pennsylvania was planted in the Ellipse in 1978 and has been employed as the National Christmas Tree since.
In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was only partially lit. When President Jimmy Carter sent his daughter Amy to light the tree on December 13, the switch lit only the top star on the big tree and only tiny blue lights illuminated the state trees on the Pathway of Peace. The President announced that the National Christmas Tree, a nationwide symbol, would remain dark until the American hostages in Iran were set free. General Electric had designed a scheme of multiple lighting and visual effects and an all white tree to coordinate with the theme of "Joy and Light," celebrating the 100th anniversary of Thomas Edison's invention of the practical incandescent lamp. However, the tree remained unlit. In 1980, President Carter lit the National Christmas Tree for only 417 seconds, each second symbolizing one day of captivity of the Americans hostages in Iran. When the hostages were eventually released on January 20, 1981, the tree was hastily re-decorated in time for their return.
Due to security concerns after an assassination attempt in March 1981, President Ronald Reagan never lit the National Christmas Tree standing on the Ellipse, but used a remote control from inside the White House. President George Bush, Sr. resumed this tradition in 1989.
In 1995, the National Christmas Tree was lit by solar energy for the first time.
[edit] Gallery of the U.S. National Christmas Tree in recent years
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[edit] References
- History of the National Christmas Trees and various related webpages at the National Park Service (NPS) website, by Laura Schiavo and other NPS staff, U.S. Department of the Interior
[edit] See also
- General Grant tree, also proclaimed the "Nation's Christmas Tree"
- Capitol Christmas Tree
- California Capitol Christmas Tree
- Grove Christmas Tree in Los Angeles, California
- Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta, Georgia
- Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City
- Easter egg roll, another White House event
