From this Tuesday, November 29, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are on a state visit to the United States. The President of the Republic and the First Lady will stay in a historic building, the scene of a drama.
The presidential couple take off for a state visit. From this Tuesday, November 29, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are going to Washington to meet Joe and Jill Biden. For his second trip across the Atlantic since his election, the President of the Republic will put down his suitcases in an astonishing residence, the Blair House. This historic residence, located right next to the famous White House, is managed by the Office of the Chief of Protocol of the United States Department of State. The Blair House offers “lodgings for visiting foreign delegations and offices for protocol, security, facilities, and State Department conservation officials, as well as the Blair House Restoration Fund”can we read on the official website.
This official residence is made up of four houses, two on Pennsylvania Avenue and two facing Lafayette Park on Jackson Place. Today, the complex in which Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron will sleep contains more than 120 rooms, over a total area of nearly 6,000 square meters. The Blair House has 14 rooms, each with a full bathroom, three formal dining rooms, two large conference rooms, a hot and cold kitchen overseen by an executive chef and sous chef, a fully equipped beauty salon, an exercise room and laundry. Over the years, heads of state from around the world have stayed there, such as Charles de Gaulle, Elizabeth II and the Emperor of Japan.
Blair House: a president targeted
And if this historic building is the pride of the President of the United States, yet it has a dark history. On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Truman in the Blair House, where he was temporarily staying. According to the official website, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola entered the estate and led a shootout on and around the front porch with White House police and Secret Service agents. At the time present in a room, thePresident Truman was awakened by the sound of gunfire then rushed to the window before a guard asked him to take cover so as not to be injured.
In all, three White House police officers were injured, Griselio Torresola was killed, and Oscar Collazo was injured. Private Leslie Coffelt, who neutralized one of the two assailants, died later that day from his injuries. His badge has since been displayed in the security office at Blair House. Another intrusion into Blair House took place in September 2000. An individual had then managed to get into the room allocated at the time to the Indian Prime Minister, who was not present at the time. Since these two incidents, security has been increased at this state residence. Like many Presidents of the Republic before him, Emmanuel Macron will therefore be able to sleep well there.