The White House Billiard Room is one of the sights on the former White House tour and was placed there by our nation's fifth President, James "Eight Ball" Monroe.
Monroe gave the special room the most use in its history since he adored pool and billiards. He would have made fine competition for former Governor "Aerosmith" Weld of Massachusetts, who once made short work at his home of Judd Rose on Prime Time Live. The wealthy Weld, first in his class at Harvard, has two beautiful pool tables in his home today.
The Smithsonian Institute has an extensive billiard collection, and it was on a temporary display a decade or so ago, but right now I think it is locked up in a Smithsonian basement. Wish they'd bring it back! :frown:
When President Hayes moved in the White House, Mrs. Hayes did a complete renovation. "Relic hunters" came from far and wide to try to steal them a piece of the White House historical strucure that Mrs. Hayes was getting rid of from the old part of the White House being torn away, and with it went a piece of Civil War history, the pool table where General Grant spent much of his time when he was at the White House, playing pool and smoking:
With the removal of the conservatories from the West Side of the White House, one of the points of interest connected with the famous building disappears. That part of the conservatory next to the White House was formerly the billiard room of General Uylsses S. Grant where he spent much of his time in playing his favorite game and smoking. Mrs. Hayes, who was a great lover of flowers and took more interest in conservatories than has any woman since her time, had the conservatory remodeled, and the smoking and billiard room of General Grant was replaced.
Maybe one of the big cuemakers should give a custom-made cue to President Obama after he is in office. You never know, it might give pool a bigger boost than anything else that's going on right now!
When Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States, 1923-1929, the Billiard Room, now known as the Map Room, was located on the southwest end of the Ground Floor Corridor. Billiards served as a source of diversion for the Coolidge family and their guests, according to this article:
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs_pph/PresidentDetail.aspx?ID=30&imageID=4025