On weekends our public radio station plays Old Time Radio episodes. Last night they had a hilarious one where historians 6,000 years from now were talking about what they’ve learned about us today. For example, they discovered our center of spiritual worship – “Holywood.”
Makes you wonder what we’ve gotten wrong about our ancestors.
I didn’t get to hear the whole thing, so I went looking for it and stumbled across this. I believe it’s from 1956. It’s a radio documentary about the White House. Trivia bits about when the House first got running water, how William Taft played with Abe Lincoln’s son in the House fifty years before he himself became President, and the story of Lincoln pardoning a doll named “Jack.” About how Andrew Jackson didn’t do much to provide new furniture, but made sure the house was full of brass spitoons.
It’s rather interesting how CBS Radio put emphasis on the prayer that John Adams wrote to his wife upon first entering the nation’s new Capitol:
“I Pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all those that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
The prayer was inscribed on the mantel of the fireplace in the State Dining Room by FDR. The original mantelpiece was replaced by a new one in the 1960′s. It also bore the inscription.
Without further ado, CBS Radio Workshop presents 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:
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Note: If you don’t have the right software to see the audio, go here. It’s number 40 in the player.
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