The Indian Treaty Room (originally known as the Navy Department Library and Reception Room) is located in the East Wing of the

Eisenhower Executive Office Building The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB)—formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB), and originally as the State, War, and Navy Building—is a U.S. government building situated just west of the White House in the U.S. ca ...

. It was designed by Richard von Ezdorf, Draftsman for the Supervising Architect of the Treasury. Completed in 1879, it cost more to construct than any other room in the building at about $33.50 per square foot (total $55,675.00). The room has been used as a library, but today is primarily used for meetings and receptions. The design of the room includes many nautical motifs, such as shells over the Italian and French marble panels; seahorses and dolphins in the cast iron railings on the second floor balcony; stars for navigation in the ceiling; and the compass in the center of the floor. The floor is the original English Minton tile floor. The room contains the only surviving original lighting fixtures in the building. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

held the first televised presidential press conference in the room in January 1955. It was subsequently used for presidential press conferences from 1955 until 1961. On September 12, 2001, the room was used to host the American Red Cross for an emergency blood drive so the White House staff could donate blood in response to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. In 2001-2002, the room was used for the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

's Coalition Information Center, which coordinated media relations and relief efforts during Operation Enduring Freedom. The name "Indian Treaty Room" was coined in the 1930s, and it is still not clear where it originated, despite extensive research. One theory is that it arose because the War Department stored papers there during the 1930s, including treaties with the American Indian nations. The Bretton Woods agreements, the peace treaties with Italy, Hungary, and Romania after World War II, and the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

were all signed in the room.

References

External links

Indian Treaty Room
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building Tour, whitehouse.gov

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

{{coord, 38.8972, -77.0385, display=title 20th-century diplomatic conferences Diplomatic conferences in the United States Charter of the United Nations United Nations conferences