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I no longer watch the plague that is "The West Wing," but I gather that the B-plot of last night's episode involved termites in the White House. In order for termite infestation to take place, you need contact between wood and the ground. Now, prior to the 1950s, it would have been entirely possible for this to happen at the White House. This is because, as originally constructed (and as reconstructed after the British burnt it) the White House was a wood building in a stone shell. AS some of you probably know, when Harry Truman was president a piano broke through the flooring of the second floor study (and through the ceiling of the East Room). This was the event that triggered a massive renovation of the White House. In fact, the White House was entirely disassembled within the non-structural out stone shell, and entirely rebuilt using steel. The photo at right gives some idea of the scale of this renovation. In essence, every room was removed and later rebuilt. The only wood that remains in the White House is decorative. Now, it is my understanding that termites have gotten into the White House before, but because there are no structural wooden elements they did no damage. Perhaps the West Wing characters were dealing with an infestation of this nature, but there wouldn't have been any way for those termites to cause any kind of structural damage.

(FYI, a great book on the history of the White House is William Seale's The Presidents' House.)

Posted by on 17 March 2005 at 3:08 PM