FLOTUS planted the tree with the two presidential descendants. Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Emory Gatchell, Jr., a fifth-generation grandson of President James Monroe.
FLOTUS arrived on the South Lawn at 3:13 pm on a hot steamy 89-degree day in Washington to plant a sapling.
She gave brief remarks:
“Thank you very much for coming today. We’re honored to make a place here for another historical monument – how you say, right? It’s a very special day. I want to thank the National Park Services for doing an amazing job in keeping the White House grounds in beautiful shape and the whole of America in good shape. I also want to thank the White House Historical Association for putting together the summit. … It’s the first day. So good luck with the summit. Thank you all for coming. It’s a beautiful tree that we will plant today.”
She was joined in the planting by Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Emory Gatchell, Jr., a fifth-generation grandson of President James Monroe. This year marks 200 years since President Monroe moved into the White House after it was rebuilt from being burned by the British.
FLOTUS planted the tree with the two presidential descendants at 3:14 pm.
She wore her signature heels (pink), a flower-patterned skirt, and a pink shirt.
She scooped two shovels full of dirt on to the tree.
Gatchell said to FLOTUS: “It’s your first planting.”
FLOTUS: “Yes this is the first.”
She left the lawn at 3:16 pm.
The sapling, taken from the Eisenhower Oak near the Kennedy Garden that sits across the drive from the planting, replaces a tree that was blown down in the March windstorm.
Various descendants of presidents, in town for events with the White House Historical Association’s Presidential Sites Summit, were on the lawn to watch the planting.