The White House Library: A Twice-Told Tale | A Legacy of Knowledge and Leadership Through the Ages | Igniting A Final Great Awakening | Day 65
By Troy Anderson, Founder of Inspire Literary Group, and Team
🎉📖Discover Troy Anderson's Inspiring Book Collection🎉📖
Inspire Literary Group News is a reader-supported publication founded by Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and six-time #1 bestselling author Troy Anderson. If you enjoy our articles, consider becoming a supporter of our mission to help people write exceptional books with an expectation that many will become bestsellers, some of which can be turned into movies and TV series.
An Exclusive Feature👉📖✨📺 Watch Secrets of the White House Library: How History Shaped America’s Leaders | Inspire Literary Group
A Moment of History in the Making
As January 20, 2025, approaches, America stands at the cusp of an extraordinary moment in history. With anticipation building, President Donald Trump is poised to re-enter the White House, rekindling his vision of "Making America Great Again." While the nation awaits his inauguration, we take this time to reflect on a fascinating chapter of White House history—a story that underscores the enduring legacy of knowledge, leadership, and the written word.
In a tale that spans centuries, from President Millard Fillmore's passionate quest for books to Jacqueline Kennedy's revival of the White House Library, we see how leaders have cherished literature as a source of inspiration, wisdom, and governance. This is a story of resilience, legacy, and the enduring power of ideas—one that resonates today as we prepare to embark on a new chapter in America's history.
A Resurgence in Reading: The Return of Books to the Spotlight
Surge in Bible Sales
In 2024, Bible sales in the U.S. experienced a remarkable 22 percent increase compared to the previous year, rising from 9.7 million copies sold in 2019 to 14.2 million in 2023. This surge is attributed to factors such as economic concerns, political instability, and personal anxiety, prompting many to seek spiritual comfort. Notably, first-time buyers and younger demographics have significantly contributed to this trend. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Revival of Print Book Reading
Beyond religious texts, there is a broader revival in print book reading. Despite the proliferation of digital media, print books continue to dominate the market, holding over 78 percent of the global revenue share in 2023. This preference for physical books is particularly pronounced among younger generations, with platforms like TikTok's "BookTok" community playing a pivotal role in driving book sales and encouraging reading habits. (Source: New Book Recommendation)
Inspire Literary Society: Empowering Writers, Inspiring Minds! Support a vibrant community dedicated to storytelling, wisdom, and faith. Whether you're an aspiring writer or an avid reader, we provide the tools, inspiration, and support you need to bring ideas to life. Pay it forward and help empower the next generation of storytellers.
Implications for the White House Library
This renewed interest in physical books and spiritual literature underscores the enduring value of traditional reading formats. As the White House prepares for new leadership, there is an opportunity to reflect this cultural shift by updating and expanding the White House Library's collection, ensuring it resonates with contemporary reading trends and continues to serve as a symbol of knowledge and inspiration for the nation.
Bridging Past and Present
A Passion for Knowledge: President Fillmore's Legacy
Having grown up in a cabin in upstate New York with only a Bible, hymnal, and almanac as reading material, President Millard Fillmore was the type of person who would give his life for a book—and he almost did.
On an early Christmas Eve morning in 1851, Fillmore heard the Washington, D.C. fire chiefs call, “Fire! Fire! The Library of Congress is on fire.” He rushed to join the fire brigades, tirelessly working with U.S. Marines and his cabinet members to save what he could. Despite losing 35,000 books in the tragic fire, Fillmore didn’t abandon his passion. He spearheaded the effort to rebuild the Library of Congress and secured funds to create a Presidential White House Library.
Fillmore and his wife Abigail personally selected the library’s first 1,050 books, curating a collection that reflected the “collective mind of the age.” Abigail transformed the Yellow Oval Office into a parlor of books, welcoming guests and enriching the intellectual fabric of the White House.
Abraham Lincoln: A Refuge Among the Books
President Abraham Lincoln found solace in the library during the Civil War. It became a place of reflection and familial bonding, where Lincoln would read to his children, exemplifying how the room evolved into a sanctuary for wisdom and resilience.
Jacqueline Kennedy: Revitalizing a Tradition
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy reimagined the library, commissioning Yale’s James T. Babb to help stock its shelves with 1,780 hand-selected titles. This effort turned the White House Library into a cultural hub, preserving the nation’s heritage and inspiring generations.
Empowering Stories, Inspiring Minds
At the Inspire Literary Group, we’re passionate about turning ideas into impactful stories. Whether you’re writing nonfiction, fiction, or memoirs, our team of experts is here to guide you every step of the way. Together, let’s bring your vision to life and inspire the world.
A Legacy of Wisdom: Bridging History and Leadership for Future Generations
In its current form, the White House Library represents a bridge between the past and the present—a reminder of the enduring value of knowledge in shaping leadership. From Fillmore’s beginnings to Kennedy’s revitalization, the library remains a beacon of intellectual and cultural preservation.
As President Trump prepares to return to the White House, the story of the library offers a poignant reminder of the power of ideas to inspire and guide a nation. Much like Fillmore, Lincoln, and Kennedy before him, he has the opportunity to leave an indelible mark on history, fostering a legacy that prioritizes wisdom, strength, and the pursuit of excellence.
Let this tale inspire us all to reflect on the importance of learning and preserving our nation’s rich heritage as we look forward to the future of America.
📖 Unlock your potential with the Inspire Literary Group, where creativity meets excellence. Our elite 17-member team of bestselling ghostwriters, coauthors, and editors, along with visionary filmmakers, top literary agents, and seasoned entertainment attorneys, is here to transform your ideas into impactful books, screenplays, documentaries, movies and TV series.
Whether you're a first-time author or a seasoned storyteller, we provide end-to-end support, from concept to publication and beyond. With a proven track record of creating bestsellers and award-winning projects, we’re your partner in crafting stories that inspire, engage, and leave a legacy.
Contact six-time #1 bestselling FaithWords/Hachette Book Group, Chosen Books/Baker Publishing Group, Salem Books/Regnery Publishing and Charisma House/FrontLine author Troy Anderson at troyanderson@inspireliterary.com or 949-887-1511 for a free consultation. 🌟 Visit www.inspireliterary.com to learn more.
Read the Full Story
For a deeper dive into the fascinating history of the White House Library, including President Millard Fillmore’s legacy and the enduring impact of leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Jacqueline Kennedy, read the full article:
The White House Library: A Twice-Told Tale
by Reneé Critcher Lyons
Having grown-up in a cabin in upstate New York with only a Bible, hymnal, and almanac as reading material, President Millard Fillmore was the type of person who would give his life for a book – and he almost did. Enjoying the holidays with his family on an early Christmas Eve morn, 1851, he heard the Washington, D.C. fire chiefs call “Fire! Fire! The Library of Congress is on fire.” He rushed to join the eight fire “engines,” wagons loaded with water barrels and hoses, pulled by draft horses. He and several of his cabinet members, as well as other congressmen, pitched in to help. The president also gave orders to the bucket brigade formed by United States Marines from the local navy yard. The line worked until noon Christmas Day without fail, President Fillmore at the head, flames flickering near his thick head of snow-white hair. Although 35,000 books burned in this tragic fire, President Fillmore didn’t give up on his passion. He pushed Congress to appropriate funds to rebuild the Library of Congress, also gaining the funding necessary to establish a personal, Presidential White House Library.
Order Plunged: The Three Worlds Book 1 by bestselling author Shilo Creed – Start with faith! Join Navy SEAL Jacob Carter in a Christian sci-fi thriller against the New World Order.
Busy with the internal and external affairs of a growing nation, earlier presidents failed to set aside a room in the White House exclusively for books. Not President Fillmore. Denied access to a circulating library until the age of seventeen, at which time he paid his subscription fees with funds earned working in a mill, Fillmore insisted on increasing both his knowledge and his vocabulary. At the mill, passing from machine to machine, he glanced at a dictionary from time-to-time, memorizing words and their definitions to the hum and drone of the looms.
Because of his love for books and reading, President Fillmore spent $65.62 out of the White House account before the library was even approved by Congress, in order to purchase Noah Webster’s Dictionary. Millard and his wife Abigail selected all the books eventually purchased, the president asking for recommendations from local book sellers, combing catalogs, and obtaining cost estimates, just like a modern-day librarian. His hard work paid off: one thousand and fifty books were added. The books the president and first lady acquired were to “help with running the country,” and used to reveal “the collective mind of the age.” As the president wanted to insure a separation of church and state pursuant to interpretations of the First Amendment, few religious works were purchased, other than the Bible. The fictional works purchased were, before the days of Mark Twain and novels of the common man, mostly written by British authors, except for the books of Washington Irving, author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Yet, the library did contain the collected works of our founders, kite-flying Benjamin Franklin; penman extraordinaire Thomas Jefferson; heads-above-the-rest George Washington; and Old Hickory, Andrew Jackson.
Abigail labeled the library a “parlor of books,” for she wished to make the room not only a place to read, but also a point of welcome, a type of “tea” room in which she entertained domestic and international guests. She selected the second floor Yellow Oval Office for this purpose, and to decorate the room in a style indicative of a 19th century parlor, furnished the library with mahogany bookshelves, French sofas in hair cloth, and the Fillmore’s own piano and harp. President Fillmore usually spent an hour every evening in the room, relaxing with his family.
Order your copy of Troy Anderson’s #1 bestseller “The Trump Code” on Amazon.com today! Listen to a free except on Audible.
Three administrations later, President Abraham Lincoln upended Abigail’s tradition, using the room as a refuge, rather than an entertainment venue. Elizabeth Grimsley, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s cousin, recalled: “Mr. Lincoln found his way through the crowds which gathered in every hall, to the room where he knew he would bring comfort, and find us with a fragrant cup of tea, and a tempting lunch ready for him. After eating he would stretch himself upon the couch, with a book in his hand, as often the Bible as any other…this was, at that time, the only relaxation he took.”
Just like Fillmore, Lincoln also grew up in wilderness areas, living in log cabins and studying in one-room schoolhouses, yearning for more books. Finally, at age nine, a stepmother brought a few more books into the cabin, and as Lincoln plowed the fields, he would read a chapter at the end of each row.
No wonder the Lincolns fairly embraced the first White House Library, as according to White House historian, William Seale, “Here the bookcases Fillmore had bought were further filled by Mrs. Lincoln, who regularly purchased books from the funds Congress set aside for the purpose. She liked modern English novels; he preferred poetry and plays, and had great admiration for Shakespeare…their leisure was often spent in the upholstered rocking chairs of this room, bespectacled, poring over their books.”’
The Lincolns also used the Library to tutor their children, Willie and Tad, connecting the room to the president’s office by a narrow hallway for the children’s easy access to their father. In the words of his mother, it became Willie’s favorite “resort.” The Lincoln’s babysitter, Julia Taft, remembered Lincoln reading to both his children and their playmates, Bud and Holly Taft:
When the President came into the family sitting room and sat down to read, the boys would rush at him and demand a story. Tad perched precariously on the back of the big chair, Willie on one knee, Bud on the other, both leaning against him. Holly usually found a place on the arm of the chair, and often I would find myself swept into the group by the long arm which seemed to reach almost across the room.
Unfortunately, presidential families following the Lincolns did not value the collection as highly. They borrowed, loaned, or by other means dispersed the Fillmore’s exquisite library until only ten lonely volumes remained. Scholars have recently researched the Library of Congress’ archives to determine the exact contents of the Fillmore’s library. One historian believed the original Fillmore collection represents “the fine legacy of a too-often ridiculed president, whose love of books and family helped define him as much as they did the era in which he lived.”
The present-day White House Library was constructed as President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal library in 1935, but was not permanently stocked until 1963. Before 1935, the ground floor room currently in use was a laundry room, cluttered by “tubs, buckets, and a variety of lumber.” It continued to serve as a laundry room until 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt renovated the ground floor and “Room 17” became a locker room. FDR eventually “labeled” the room a library. But, not until 1961 did First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy take an interest in creating what became the second, and present-day, White House Library.
Like Fillmore and Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy knew the value of books. They helped her converse with the brightest minds of the day: poets, artists, and statesmen. For, while she did not grow up in a cabin like Fillmore and Lincoln, her family did worry about finances. Appreciating her access to libraries and education, young Jackie knew books would allow her to learn, work, and expand her horizons within political circles. Obtaining a degree in French literature from George Washington University, she easily fit in with the intellectuals in Washington, D.C., having acquired the knowledge and wherewithal to serve as a political journalist.
When her husband was elected president, First Lady Jackie Kennedy asked James T. Babb, then director of the Yale University library, to form a committee to select new books for a second White House Library. In 1963, 1,780 were placed on the shelves. Some of the mainstay titles included: The Journal of George Washington, The Religion of Abraham Lincoln, and The Life of Washington Irving. A book about the history, and 100th anniversary celebration, of the Boston Public Library also filled the shelves. The books selected by Kennedy and Babb’s committee remain, to this day, in the White House Library, seemingly only supplemented from time-to-time with presidential papers.
The real importance of the White House Library for today’s American citizen, then, is it serves as a sort of library museum which honors our country’s origins, containing five portraits of famous Native Americans, a wood chandelier once owned by famed adventure author James Fenimore Cooper, and a saber reminiscent of the Revolutionary War era.
Today’s librarians would chastise White House staff and residents for not weeding and updating the White House Library collection. Kids in Milton Terrace South Elementary School in New York State tried to spread the message right before President Obama moved in, suggesting Click-Clack-Moo as an appropriate title, in an effort to render the library “kid-friendly.” It seems the books from 1963 still remain on the shelves despite their good efforts. Perhaps we might say the White House Library needs some updating. Presidents Fillmore, Lincoln, and First Lady Jackie Kennedy would surely say so!
https://ourwhitehouse.org/the-white-house-library-a-twice-told-tale/
📖 Order Your Mission in God’s Army by Col. David Giammona & Troy Anderson – Prepare for spiritual battles.🎧 Listen to a free excerpt on Audible!
77 Days to Take Back America: Igniting A Final Great Awakening | Renewing Our Commitment – Choosing to Serve the Lord | Day 6
Weeks 4-8: Divine Guidance and Governance (Inspired by Joshua)
Focus: Courage in Leadership and Unwavering Faith
Scripture:
"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." – Joshua 24:15
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." – Matthew 22:37
Reflection:
As we progress through Day 64 of our “77 Days to Take Back America: Igniting A Final Great Awakening” campaign of prayer, fasting and repentance from November 5 until January 20, 2025, Inauguration Day, in his final address to Israel, Joshua challenged the people to renew their commitment to God and reject the idols that surrounded them. He boldly declared that his household would serve the Lord, setting an example of steadfast faith. Renewing our commitment to God is a powerful declaration of trust and devotion, aligning our lives with His purpose.
Today, let us pray for our leaders to renew their commitment to God as they serve the nation. May President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and their team reject distractions and focus on God’s guidance in their decisions. Let us also reflect on our own lives, asking for strength to choose God daily and to walk in faithful obedience to Him.
Prayer:
Lord, we thank You for the reminder to renew our commitment to You. Today, we pray for President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and all leaders, asking that they choose to serve You wholeheartedly. May their decisions reflect a steadfast faith and devotion to Your will.
Father, help us to examine our hearts and renew our commitment to You. Teach us to love You with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to serve You faithfully in every area of our lives. Strengthen our resolve to follow You and to proclaim boldly that we will serve You alone.
In the Mighty name of Jesus, I invoke the standing order of Almighty God to protect my family and our beloved country, America, from every attack, to propel us above every circumstance and crisis, and to prevent any weapon formed against us from prospering, so that we will not fall or fail but will be overcomers, more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. I command angels to surround us, to uphold and guard us in all our ways. Amen.
Wisdom for Awakening:
Renewing your commitment to God strengthens your faith and aligns your heart with His purpose. Today, boldly declare that you will serve Him alone.
Action for Awakening:
Spend time reflecting on your commitment to God. Write down one practical step you can take to strengthen your relationship with Him, whether through prayer, Bible study, or serving others.
Blessing:
May the Lord bless you with a renewed commitment to serve Him. May He guide our leaders to seek Him wholeheartedly and lead with unwavering faith. May we all declare boldly, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
In His Service
Troy Anderson
Co-Founder of Revelation Watchers
Founder of the Inspire Literary Group
Bestselling author of The Trump Code, Revelation 911, Your Mission in God’s Army, The Military Guide to Disarming Deception, The Military Guide to Armageddon, Trumpocalypse, and The Babylon Code