# Why not paint the White House Yellow? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103 "2003-09-22T15:11:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/1 "2003-09-22T15:11:26Z")
We have had so many Presidents and their families in the White House. When was it determined that the White House would always be White? Could the Presidents have changed the color if they wanted? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/2 "2003-09-22T15:24:52Z")
[You can make it any color you want to.](http://www.whitehousehistory.org/02_learning/subs_k/activities_k/frame_act_k03b_b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/3 "2003-09-22T15:30:07Z")
Smarty Pants **Casey1505** ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/4 "2003-09-22T15:50:49Z")
They probably decided to keep the paint white about the same time they decided to name it The White House. Otherwise, what would be the point? ---
**Author:** ![Redsland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/5 "2003-09-22T17:40:49Z")
Well, can’t they do the trim in a nice blue or something? And maybe a cute red door… ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/6 "2003-09-22T17:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, can’t they do the trim in a nice blue or something? And maybe a cute red door… yeah! Isn’t that Feng shuai? I am pretty sure a red door means prosperity. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/7 "2003-09-22T18:09:40Z")
White house with a red door? We’d have to elect Kevin Spacey president. Annette Benning would make a fantastic First Lady. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/8 "2003-09-22T19:06:04Z")
Actually, it started out as a kind of cream color. They painted it white after it was set on fire during the War of 1812. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/9 "2003-09-22T20:13:28Z")
Speaking of the War of 1812? I can’t understand why in American schools, it’s taught that the US won the war. I mean, the US were the aggressors, and they didn’t gain anything. So… ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/10 "2003-09-22T21:15:49Z")
Gadfly: here’s a thread on who won the War of 1812: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77391&highlight=1812](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77391&highlight=1812) ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-paint-the-white-house-yellow/203103/11 "2003-09-23T03:23:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadfly \* > \*\*Speaking of the War of 1812? I can’t understand why in American schools, it’s taught that the US won the war. I mean, the US were the aggressors, and they didn’t gain anything. So… \*\* Now just **hold on** a minute here. The US was the _aggressor_? That’s not the way I was taught it in grade school! No joke. But they get points for never talking about it except once in first grade (they were teaching us educational songs about American history and figured we’d need some background on the War of 1812 - America won our independence but the British didn’t want to let us go), maybe half a day in fifth, and in eight it was mostly rushed through, but at least we got some facts. I’m lucky I had a good US history teacher that year who taught us stuff I’ve no other history teacher ever said to me.