Visit the White House, but in Brookville

There is a memorable Life magazine photograph of John F. Kennedy Jr., President Kennedy’s son, as a toddler in the Oval Office. Playing inside the desk where his father is working, he peers out after opening a front panel. 

The history of the desk door dates back to President Franklin Roosevelt, who requested that panels be added to the Resolute Desk, as it is called, to hide his leg braces. Given to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in November 1880, the Resolute Desk may be the most recognizable pieces of furniture in the White House, perhaps because of the Kennedy photo. 

But visitors who tour the real White House, in Washington, are not permitted into the Oval Office, so they have never seen the desk, except in photos. Since last summer, however, they have been able to see an exact replica of it in Brookville.

A life-size reproduction of the White House, which includes the Oval Office, the Situation Room, the Press Room and all of the famed building’s other rooms, is available for tours in the former home of financier E.F. Hutton on the campus of Long Island University. Visitors can have a guided tour of the White House 

Experience at the Roosevelt School by appointment, Monday through Friday. And yes, they can sit behind the replica Resolute Desk. 

There are similar replicas of the White House at the George Washington Presidential Library in Mount Vernon, Virginia; the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas; and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. The White House in Brookville is the only one on the East Coast, and features the Museum of Democracy, the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical and political campaign memorabilia — over a million objects representing every president from Washington to Biden. The current exhibit, “Hail to the chief! Electing the American President,” will be on display until next year. 

The Society of Descendants

The White House Experience was created by LIU in partnership with the Society of Presidential Descendants, which includes grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren of former presidents. The Museum of Democracy, which opened inside the White House Experience in 2023, is a collection belonging to the Wright Family, which had a traveling exhibit but wanted a permanent home for it. 

It was LIU President Kimberly Cline’s idea to turn Hutton’s former home, which was in disrepair, into the White House Experience. Cline knew the importance of civic education, and thought such an exhibit would be of interest to people of all ages — and beneficial to LIU students as well.

“Long Island University is a national leader in presidential studies, service learning and civic education,” Cline said. “The establishment of the White House Experience directly provides a forum for our students to further study the foundation and evolution of our country. Through these initiatives, we can educate and inspire the next generation of our nation’s leaders as they learn lessons from history to shape solutions for America’s future.”

Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the president of the Society of Presidential Descendants and the chairman of LIU’s Roosevelt School, supported Cline’s vision. 

“The problem is, people carry on about their rights, but no one taught them their responsibilities,” Roosevelt said. “The idea is to turn the White House Experience (into) part of a civic education. If democracy is to survive, people will need to take their responsibility as citizens seriously.”

The White House Experience includes a second floor, like the real White House, where visitors can see several rooms including the First Ladies Room, the Red Room and the Blue Room. The Blue Room is perhaps best known for the celebrations that have been held there. One of the photos on display is of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter, Lynda Bird, when she married Chuck Robb in 1967. 

The White House Experience offers students on school trips the chance to be the president and members of the cabinet and deal with a crisis. In the China Room, where china given to former presidents is displayed, etiquette classes are offered. 

“It’s important to provide these skills,” said Andy Person, LIU’s chief of strategy and advancement, who conducts tours of the house and museum. Children “need to know why it’s important to do things like, when shaking hands, to make eye contact, and which fork to use.” 

An 1870 ballot box, and more

In the Museum of Democracy, one item of interest is a New Hampshire ballot box from Andrew Jackson’s controversial election in 1870. The box is made of wood, glass and metal, and the original paper ballots can still be seen inside it. 

“We talk about how divisive elections are today, but that’s not new,” Person said. “Andrew Jackson thought the election was stolen from him. He contested it and won. We overcame it before, and we will again.”

In the 1800s, there were parades after presidential elections in which it was customary to carry a lantern with the image of the winner. Several of the lanterns are on view in the museum, including one depicting Ulysses S. Grant.

There are also many campaign buttons, which, Person said, can tell a story of their own. One, from George Washington’s inauguration, says, “Long Live the President,” making it clear that although the colonies had broken away from the rule of the king of England, the “language was still there,” Person said.

In one room there are campaign dresses made of paper, displaying a variety of candidates’ names, including Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy and Spiro Agnew. They were created in the 1960s to appeal to younger voters, who wore the dresses to campaign parties.

There are also several campaign posters and newspapers, including the infamous Chicago Daily Tribune front page from Nov. 3, 1948, incorrectly announcing “Dewey Defeats Truman,” as well as whimsical items like slippers and even a nutcracker that sport a candidate’s image or name. 

“Our thought is, we can be an in-person and virtual library for all presidents,” Person explained. “Thirty (presidents) do not have a formal presidential library.”

For further information or to make a reservation for a tour, go to LIU.edu/WhiteHouseExperience.