White House ornaments honor former US presidents

Now in its 60th year, the longevity of White House Historical Association is partly due to the popularity of the official White House Christmas ornament collection. Ornament sales are a major funding source for the nonprofit, nonpartisan historical association, which was created in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to help pay for White House restoration and acquisition projects. Every year since 1981, after first lady Nancy Reagan gave her approval, the historical association has designed an ornament honoring a president or a key White House anniversary.

"These are really education objects. Each one has elements related to that specific presidency," said Stewart McLaurin the president of the White House Historical Association.

"Traditionally, I'll tell you, the best sellers tend to be ornaments that depict the actual White House in some way or a Christmas tree," McLaurin added.

The ornaments have become collectibles, with about a million now sold annually, the association said. The 2019 White House Christmas ornament is one of those that depicts the White House, specifically the south side, to honor President Harry Truman, who added the Truman balcony to the top floor as part of a major renovation and expansion of the executive mansion during his presidency.

Clifton Truman Daniel, Truman's oldest grandson, told the AP that his grandfather took some flack over the balcony addition. But it has become very popular with first families. The 2021 official White House ornament — the 41st in the series — honors President Johnson with its reproduction of a painting of the Blue Room tree the family had in December 1967. Johnson's wife, Lady Bird, had commissioned the watercolor for that year's White House Christmas card. The back of the ornament features Johnson's quote that "our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man."

"That's what Lyndon Johnson's presidency was all about, trying to make a better life for that next generation," said Luci Baines Johnson, the daughter of President LBJ.

The memories of a busy December 1967 in the White House come rushing back when Luci Baines Johnson looks at this year's annual Christmas tree ornament honoring her father from the White House Historical Association. Luci's sister Lynda, the eldest of President Lyndon B. Johnson's two children, was about to get married — at the White House, and the president spent the days leading up to Christmas racking up miles on a last-minute trip to Australia, southeast Asia and Europe.

"There were many men and women who had not done their Christmas shopping who were on that trip," Luci Baines Johnson told The AP. "So my father stops in the Azores asks to have the PX (The Exchange) open at four o'clock in the morning."

President Johnson also looked forward to spending the holiday, the presidential family's first in the White House, with his infant grandson, Patrick, Luci's child. "My mother said, and I think it just rings so true for me. That every day in the White House is a gift, but never more so than at Christmas," Luci Baines Johnson said. "And I think that's what that White House ornament may bring to many people's homes who love our nation's home."

The White House is not involved in designing the ornaments, which since 1981 have been made by ChemArt, a veteran-owned company in Lincoln, Rhode Island. The 2022 official ornament will honor Richard Nixon, the 37th president, with a design set to be unveiled at his presidential library in Yorba Linda, California, on Presidents Day.