Open House at the People’s House
The White House has long been known as “the People’s House” and President Barack Obama promised to make it an open, friendly and welcoming place. Over the last week, the hardest working staff at the White House hasn’t been the health care team … it’s been the Visitors Office. With only five staff members, they have ushered roughly 6,000 people a day through the White House gates with extended tour hours: 12-hour days instead of six. Every congressional office request was honored.
White House Correspondents Insider co-founder Tammy Haddad spoke with White House Visitors Office Director Ellie Schafer and her team for the inside scoop on what goes on behind the scenes at the only building in the world which is simultaneously the home of a head of state, the executive office of a head of state, and a museum open to the public.
The White House Visitors Office from whcinsider on Vimeo.
Schafer is testing out guided White House tours — which were dropped after 9/11. For the past eight years, visitors have walked through on their own, with Secret Service officers looking on. The Obama WH visitors team is getting kudos from White House veterans for allowing visitors into the always popular china room for the first time.
