James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

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President George W. Bush participates in the unveiling of the new Brady Briefing Room on July 11, 2007

Backdrop emblem used in the press room

Helen Thomas reads a newspaper a half hour before the morning gaggle on July 13th, 2007.

The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room is a small theater in the West Wing of the White House where the White House Press Secretary gives daily briefings to the news media and the President of the United States sometimes addresses the press and the American nation. It is located between the workspace assigned to the White House Press Corps and the office of the Press Secretary.

In 1969, to accommodate the growing number of reporters assigned to the White House, Richard Nixon had the indoor swimming pool, which had been installed by the March of Dimes for Franklin D. Roosevelt, covered and turned into press offices and a lounge that could double as a briefing room. The swimming pool still exists, although it is now used as a crawlspace to handle the wiring of the press operations.

In 2000, the room was renamed the "James S. Brady Press Briefing Room" in honor of James Brady, the press secretary who was shot and permanently disabled during an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.

In December 2005, the White House announced the intention to renovate the aging Press Briefing Room and cramped press corps offices. On August 2, 2006, the final briefing was held, and President Bush hosted several previous press secretaries at a closing ceremony.

President Bush reopened the renovated room in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the morning of July 11, 2007. He held his first formal press conference in the new briefing room the next day, following the release of a report on the progress of the Iraqi government.

The most noticeable change to the briefing room is a different backdrop for the press conferences, now featuring a softly lit screen flanked by mock columns instead of the previous blue curtain. The new podium also contains video screens for teleconferencing and multimedia displays. For safety reasons, the trapdoor that provided access to the old swimming pool (a popular stop for visitors) was replaced by a discreet staircase.

Ironically (given that complaints about its cramped appearance helped give rise to the renovations), the current briefing room has only one more press seat than it had in its previous incarnation.

[edit] References

• Washington Post: "White House Press Room to be Closed for Makeover"
• ABC News: "White House Press Briefing Room Redo"
• White House: "President Visits White House Press Briefing Room Prior to Renovation"
• News Watch: White House: "Ciao to the Brady Briefing Room" (with photos)
• Editor & Publisher: "WH Press Room Artifacts Sought in Wake of Renovation"

[edit] External links

• White House Press Briefing Room
• White House Museum: Press Briefing Room
• White House Museum: Press Corps Offices

[edit] References

• Time: "The Origins of the Lincoln Bedroom"
• Washington Post: "Lincoln Bedroom's Sleepy Look to Get A Wake-Up Call"
• CNN: "(Bill) Clinton Ok'd Using Lincoln Bedroom For Contributors"
• Common Dreams: "(George W.) Bush Fund-Raisers Among Overnight Guests in the Lincoln Bedroom"