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The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room is a small theater in the
West Wing
The West Wing of the White House houses the offices of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room.
The West Wing's four floors contain offices for ...
of 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 ...
where the White House press secretary gives briefings to the news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and ...
and the president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
sometimes addresses the press and the nation. It is located between the workspace assigned to the White House press corps
The White House press corps is the group of journalists, correspondents, and members of the media usually assigned to the White House in Washington, D.C., to cover the president of the United States, White House events, and news briefings. Its o ...
and the office of the press secretary.
History
The first presidential press conference was held in March 1913 in the Oval Office, during the presidency ofWoodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
. Subsequently, until 1969, communications from the president and general press news conferences took place in various locations, including the Indian Treaty Room, the State Department auditorium, and the White House East Room.
In 1969, to accommodate the growing number of reporters assigned to the White House, President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
had the indoor swimming pool, which had been installed by the March of Dimes for Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, covered and turned into press offices and a lounge that could double as a briefing room.
In 2000, the room was renamed the "James S. Brady Press Briefing Room" in honor of James Brady, the White House Press Secretary who had been shot and permanently disabled during an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Renovation
In December 2005, the White House announced the intention to renovate the aging Press Briefing Room and cramped press corps offices. On August 2, 2006, the final briefing was held, and PresidentGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
hosted several previous press secretaries at a closing ceremony and there was some hesitation and concern about whether the press would be allowed to return to the White House. In the interim, the White House Conference Center
The White House Conference Center is an annex building of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Colonial Revival building is located across Pennsylvania Avenue at 726 Jackson Place and was used as a temporary press location during remodeling of ...
was used as temporary location for press conferences.
President Bush reopened the renovated room in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the morning of July 11, 2007. He held his first formal press conference in the new briefing room the next day, following the release of a report on the progress of the Iraqi government. The modernization cost nearly US$8.5 million. Of that sum, $2.5 million was funded by the media, and the remainder was funded from tax revenue. Each correspondent's seat was priced at $1,500. Beneath the current press room lies the former White House swimming pool that has since become a computer server room
A server room is a room, usually air-conditioned, devoted to the continuous operation of computer servers. An entire building or station devoted to this purpose is a data center.
The computers in server rooms are usually headless systems that ca ...
.
Location
References
External links
* {{coord, 38.89771, -77.03567, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-DC, display=title Mass media in the United States Rooms in the White House Swimming venues in Washington, D.C.