Do You Think The White House Has (or ever has had) Vermin?

davidm · July 20, 2012, 5:14pm

Common sense says that it has and probably still does. How could it not? Have you ever lived anywhere where you didn’t at least see an occasional spider?

I imagine they have a pest company come in and treat the place on a regular basis, or maybe the military or the Parks Department have a pest control unit of some sort.

Siam_Sam · July 20, 2012, 5:16pm

Doesn’t the CIA or NSA regularly sweep the place for bugs?

Peter_Morris · July 20, 2012, 5:41pm

Come to that, I’m not sure why the thread is in IMHO to begin with. It’s a question with factual answers available, more suitable to GQ.

Peter_Morris · July 20, 2012, 5:42pm

Win.

aruvqan · July 20, 2012, 6:07pm

Incumbent: larry
:dubious::eek::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

rocking_chair · July 21, 2012, 1:55am

heavens, yes, there were reports of rats in the pool area before it was covered over.

being south of the mason dixon i would bet on it having serious bugs as well. i’m sure there is extermination and careful checking for termites.

Koxinga · July 21, 2012, 2:14am

Wasn’t the whole town famously built on a malarial swamp?

Ca3799 · July 21, 2012, 1:42pm

I recently read “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President” and the descriptions of the condition on the White House at this time were pretty unpleasant- drafty, damp, moldy, vermin infested, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0385526261

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great mix of history, medicine and politics. When my sis gave me the book, I thought “That’s a boring title. Probably won’t like it.” But it was a great read that I recommended to many.

a35362 · July 21, 2012, 10:51pm

Paul Slansky’s book about the Reagan '80s, The Clothes Have No Emperor, quotes Nancy Reagan’s chief of staff complaining about having to have mousetraps in his office in January 1981.

John_Mace · July 21, 2012, 11:02pm

District. And yes.

Little_Nemo · July 21, 2012, 11:07pm

That explains what Larry was doing. But what was Ed’s job?

BrotherCadfael · July 22, 2012, 12:15am

Presidents, by definition, are not vermin.

I’m thinking Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Jody Powell, Oliver North, George Stephanopolis, etc.

Siam_Sam · July 22, 2012, 12:22am

Whose dictionary is that in?

ralph124c · July 22, 2012, 12:40am

Shagnasty:

The White House as it is today is fairly new in most senses and only dates to the Truman administration from the early 1950’s. After the Great Depression and WWII, it had serious structural and deterioration issues and had to be almost completely destroyed internally and rebuilt from the inside out.. Only the outer brick shell is partly original and that only counts if you don’t include other rebuildings such as when it was burned during the War of 1812 or the various additions that were later added and sometimes later removed. Once you know that, it makes some of its ‘historical’ features such as the Lincoln bedroom seem like fraud.

What I am saying is that the White House has had many different forms over the years and was allowed to become quite decrepit at times especially during the 1800’s and from the Great Depression to WWII. I am sure it is mostly spotless today but there is plenty of food around and that is enough to attract vermin anywhere. They aren’t scared of the Secret Service and can get through any opening whatsoever.

Quite right-in fact, President Truman, his wife and daughter lived in Blair House while the WH was under renovation. This leads to another question: Jackie Kennedy spend a vast amount of taxpayer money renovating/redecorating the WH in 1960-61. Why was that necessary (in view of the Truman era reconstruction)?

Siam_Sam · July 22, 2012, 1:42am

1961-63 actually. There’s a good piece on that here.

The_Universe_Lashes_Out · July 22, 2012, 1:54am

“The city of Washington was built on a stagnant swamp some 200 years ago, and very little has changed. It stank then, and it stinks now.”

-Lisa Simpson