Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

LARRY PROVOST: The Big Beautiful Ballroom On Its Way

[Screenshot/The White House]

The latest victory for President Trump is literally paving the way for the Big Beautiful Ballroom in the area of the former East Wing of the White House; a Big Beautiful Ballroom befitting of the great United States in both necessity and beauty.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the case brought by the National Trust for Historical Preservation in the United States vs. National Park Service, et. al., was based on a “ragtag group of theories” and allows the President to proceed forward with the 90,000 square foot ballroom that will comfortably hold nearly 1,000 people.

This ballroom was needed as large White House events are held under tents, in all kinds of weather from the cold of winter, pouring rain, and the muggy Washington summer heat.  Further, such tents are unbefitting that of the greatest nation on Earth.  This President Trump saw, and he took action, tearing down the East Wing of the White House and, unlike other Presidents, is paying for the project with private funds.

There is great precedent for a President to make such changes and while other Presidents supposedly did not like the fact that tents had to be used, none of them did anything about it despite the White House almost always being in a state of change, with the core intact.

This was from necessity such as the Christmas Fire of 1929 to Truman’s Renovation and as well as from the aesthetic such as seeing the changing nature of the Oval Office over the years.

Yet the core of the White House, the most commonly visited rooms on tours, remain the same; these being the State Dining Room, East Room, Red Room, Blue Room, Green Room, Library, Map Room and others.  Even those historical rooms off limits to the public, such as the Lincoln Bedroom and Sitting Room, remain relatively intact.

Yet each of these relatively intact rooms changes from time to time. Even the famous Cross Hall connecting the red room, State Dining Room, and others with the East Room was not in its current form until relatively recently.

Frankly, when tours of the White House started in the East Wing, relatively few people came away from the East Wing as if blown away by its aesthetics.  Very few people got to see the White House Movie Theatre that was located in the former East Wing while even fewer ever saw the Office of the First Lady.

Simply put, it was a relative eyesore compared to the original White House and even the West Wing, completed in 1902.

It was a waste of money for historical preservationists to even try to bring their case before federal courts.  The East Wing had already been torn down and if the so-called preservationists were successful we the people would have been stuck with a torn down East Wing.

Many of the same people who argue about keeping our past intact are the same ones who wish to erase our past (with the names of military bases amongst other “improvements”) and look to the “New Europe” as an example for art as opposed to the Old Europe that helped give birth to classical and elegant American architecture.  Their architecture is dead and even tourists of leftist persuasion go to see the classical buildings in Washington, D.C. and the elegant churches, museums and buildings of the Old Europe.

This updated version of the White House is a gift; not for vanity but for the American people to continue to be inspired, in the form of building art, of the richness, elegance and decency of our great and beautiful nation.

Larry Provost is a columnist and commentator in Washington, D.C. A 26-year Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, he holds a Master of Divinity from Liberty University, an M.P.S. in legislative affairs from The George Washington University and an M.A. in defense and strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/The White House)