This is where American presidents prepare before entering the White House, where they receive their distinguished guests, or where one of them has been the target of an assassination attempt: Blair House, a magnificent house steeped in history, which this week hosted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte for their state visit to Washington.
Like Charles de Gaulle, Elisabeth II or the Emperor of Japan before him, the French presidential couple took up residence this week in this vast residence located opposite the White House, in the heart of the federal capital.
Behind its clear facade with a simple appearance, Blair House actually oversees four adjoining buildings to form a complex of 6500 m2 – more than the White House itself – with 119 sumptuously decorated rooms intended for the reception of foreign dignitaries and diplomatic exchanges.
At the back, a discreet garden allows you to get some fresh air away from the crowds of tourists.
Its walls have seen nights of negotiations over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, repeated G7 finance ministers’ summits and, according to Bill Clinton’s account, Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s drinking difficulties, once found outside in his underpants hailing a taxi and the next day taken for a drunken intruder in the cellars of the residence.
Playing on the homonymy, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had declared that he felt “a bit like at home” there. [lui] during a stay in 1998.
Rifles and cigar
In addition to welcoming foreign leaders, tradition dictates that the president-elect resides there on the eve of his installation at the White House, on the other side of Square Lafayette.
At the beginning of January 2009, a small controversy: Barack Obama, who came from Chicago, wants to move to Blair House as soon as possible before his inauguration, for lack of accommodation for him and his family in the capital. But the Bush administration did not give him the keys until the 15th, five days before the solemn ceremony. The reason put forward – the visit of a former Australian prime minister who had come to receive a decoration – did not convince part of the American press.
Although not offering exceptional security conditions, Blair House was occupied by President Harry Truman and his family for most of his term of office from 1948 to 1952, to allow for a major restoration of the White House. .
This is where, the 1er November 1950, two Puerto Rican separatists attempted, without success, to assassinate him by forcibly entering the house armed with guns. One of the assailants and a policeman are killed.
A security that was still deficient when, in September 2000, an intruder managed to get into the room where the Indian Prime Minister lived, then visiting, but not present at the time of the events.
Built in 1824, Blair House was quickly sold to Francis Preston Blair, co-owner of the World and close to President Andrew Jackson, making it a sought-after lounge for Washington’s elite.
Franklin D. Roosevelt bought the residence in 1942 to house his passing counterparts, tired of a Winston Churchill sleeping at the White House who, cigar in hand, tried to wake him up at 3 am to make conversation.