The iconic lawn adjacent to the oval office features many historic events.
Trump’s Rose Garden Redesign, Ballroom Plans Cause Controversy
President Donald Trump’s redesign of Rose Garden elicited a mixed reaction after it was revealed, causing controversy.
WASHINGTON – For more than 60 years, the White House Rose Garden has shown its reputation as the president of the United States.
The iconic setting is hosted by peace treaties, presidential press conferences, meetings with foreign heads of states, signing landmark bills, weddings of the president’s daughter to sit, judicial oaths of the Supreme Court, Turkish pardons, and even leaders of rival nations who sign the “beer summit.”
Now, after President Donald Trump ordered the garden to be paved with care, rose gardens, located outside their oval offices along the West Wing, have entered a new era. The recently completed controversial overhaul transforms one of the garden’s most striking features into a stone patio, maintaining rose bushes and other vegetation around the garden.
Trump told reporters on August 3 that he heard “a great review” about the renovated Rose Garden. “We had to do that.”
Let’s take a look back at the history of Rose Garden and some of its memorable moments.
The origins of rose garden
The Flower Garden, located on the west side of the Southern Lawn of the White House, dates back to the president of Ulysses S. Grant in the mid-1800s. According to the White House Historical Society, the space later became known as the “colonial gardens.”
The garden was first transformed into a rose garden in 1913. In 1913, Mrs. Ellen Axon Wilson, who married President Woodrow Wilson, left her colonial garden to give way to the bed of rose hedge along the Arles that the president used for her walk.
President Franklin during World War II. D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill chatted from a yard chair in 1943 before holding a meeting with military leaders within the White House in 1943.
A modern rose garden appears under JFK
Modern Rose Garden was created when President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy led the overhaul by tapping architect Rachel Lambert “Bunny” melon.
“He wanted to start in his biggest rush to create an area near his office on the western edge of the White House, known as Rose Garden, into a convenient and attractive area,” Mellon later recalls. “I’ll design it for him? That was an incredible request to say the least.”
Melon said he imagined a sauce magnolia tree in the four corners of a large lawn on the side with a 12-foot border made up of small trees, roses and other flowers. The grass is 50 feet x 100 feet, and she said it was big enough to accommodate 1,000 people for ceremony and reception, and small enough to be covered in a tent in the center of the garden.
She said on the other side of the stairs leaving the oval office – on the east side of the garden – would become a flag terrace. “Here, the president wanted to have a place where he could sit and entertain his guests, or perhaps have a small luncheon,” Mellon said.
A place to celebrate civilians and championship teams
Rose Garden has become the go-to place for the president to honor civilians and recognize championship-winning sports teams in both university and professional positions.
During his first term, Trump awarded golfer Tiger Woods and others at a ceremony at Rose Garden in 2019.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson held a Rose Garden Ceremony to present the Federal Aviation Administration Gold Medal Award to Jerry Mock, the first woman to fly around the world.
Richard Nixon’s daughter will be married at Rose Garden
Tricia Nixon, daughter of President Richard Nixon, held her wedding at Rose Garden on June 12, 1971. It was my first wedding in the garden.
Most recently, President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden, held a wedding ceremony in 2022 on the White House grounds. The Biden ceremony took place on the South Lawn of the White House, but not in the Rose Garden.
Where to host senior officials
Rose Garden is often the place that the president used to host the president, the prime minister, and other high-ranking officials from other countries.
In this photo, former President Gerald Ford can be seen giving Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau a book to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the US establishment in 1976.
Carter meets Anwar Sadatt
President Jimmy Carter appeared with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at Rose Garden in April 1980 shortly after the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty promoted by Carter came into effect.
Ronald Reagan slap shot
Ronald Reagan picked up hockey sticks twice during his presidency and slammed the puck onto a special surface placed on the lawns of Rose Garden.
It was my first time in 1983 while hosting a US Olympic hockey team and NHL’s Washington Capitals player.
“And for the press that keeps asking questions on photo opportunities,” Reagan joked as he slapped the puck at reporters.
Reagan made another swing at a similar event four years later in 1987.
Bush meets Yeltsin after the collapse of the Soviet Union
The president has often turned his eyes to Rose Garden to hold outdoor press conferences, especially after holding bilateral meetings with other world leaders.
In 1992, President George HW Bush held Russian President Boris Yeltsin at Rose Garden and announced an agreement to reduce long-range missile warhead stockpiles within a year of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Clinton is holding a signing ceremony for the Israeli-Jordan agreement
In 1994, President Bill Clinton hosted King Hussein of Jordan and Prime Minister Israel Yitzhak Rabin as the two countries signed a peace treaty that ended decades of conflict.
“Today we are gathering to testify to history,” Clinton said in his remarks. “As this century approaches the end, a new era of peace begins before us in ancient lands, just as the brave men reconcile the conflict. Today, our faith is new.”
Clinton deals with the state after the acquittal of the bluff each
In December 1998, Clinton used Rose Garden to tell Americans “I’m deeply sorry” about his actions in the Monical Winski incident, as he prepared to fire each scandal in the House of Representatives.
A few months later, Clinton returned to Rose Garden on February 12, 1999, addressing the country after the Senate voted to acquit him on all charges of fiasco each.
“I want to once again say to the American people how deeply sorry I am,” Clinton said, as the Senate fulfilled its constitutional responsibility and led this process to conclusion.
George W. Bush signs surveillance law amid “war on terrorism”
At the 2008 Rose Garden Ceremony, President George W. Bush signed a controversial law amending the Foreign Intelligence Report Surveillance Act to allow Americans to wiretap their phones without obtaining a warrant.
This was one of several actions Bush took to empower the US intelligence reporting agency after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“One of the important lessons learned after 9/11 was that the American intelligence agency lacked some of the tools needed to monitor the communication of terrorists overseas,” Bush said at the event.
Presidential Dog in Rose Garden
The lawns at Rose Garden were a popular place for the president to take his dogs outside for fresh air.
The dogs floriched on the green space included George W. Bush’s Bernie, Barack Obam’s beauty, and most recently, Commander Joe Biden.
Barack Obama host “Beer Summit”
Six months after his inauguration in 2009, Obama hosted what became known as the “Beer Summit” at Rose Garden.
The unusual rally was organized by Obama to cool the tension after Massachusetts Police Sergeant Cambridge. James Crowley arrested prominent Harvard professor Henry Lewis Gates at home in response to a 911 call about a reported break-in.
Law enforcement opposed Obama, saying that Cambridge police had acted “silly.” The three men drank Budlight beer, while then-President Viese Biden was drinking non-alcoholic beer.
Rose Garden Turkey’s Blessing
Rose Garden is usually where the president pardons the turkey prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
In 2017, Trump forgived one turkey by the name of the drumstick.
“I’m happy to report that unlike millions of other turkeys at this time of the year, Drumsticks have a much brighter future than him,” Trump said.
Trump is holding a press conference for the Covid ERA
During the 2020 Covid Pandemic, Trump held an outdoor press conference at Rose Garden to reduce the spread of the virus.
Reporters often sat in seats spread across the grass for a long time. Many of the press asked questions while wearing facial masks.
Melania Trump pushes the change in the rose garden
First Lady Melania Trump led several changes to Rose Garden during Trump’s first term.
This movement involves moving ten crabapple trees to another part of the garden, removing the sitting area of the garden, adding a limestone walk along the central lawn, and setting up an inner boundary next to boxwood shrubs and flowers.
Joe Biden deals with the country after winning Trump’s election
Two days after Trump’s 2024 election victory guaranteed his return to the White House, Biden committed to a peaceful transfer of power during his speech at Rose Garden.
Biden had warned that the second Trump presidency threatened American democracy. Four years after beating Trump in the 2020 election, Biden was forced to hand over his torch to him after completing his comeback to defeat Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It’s inevitable that a set-up will happen, but we won’t allow you to give up,” Biden said in his remarks.
