White House Christmas tree Henry Hoover began the tradition of presidential wives decorating the White House tree with the first "official" White House Christmas tree in 1929. In 1961 First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy began the tradition of selecting a theme for the White House Christmas tree by decorating with a Nutcracker motif. As stated, there were years where no indoor White House Christmas tree was installed at all. It is verifiable that there was no Christmas tree in the White House in 1902, 1904, 1907, and 1922. The lack of a tree in 1902 was due to the fact that President Theodore Roosevelt had
Christmas in the post-war United States 1953, the ceremony was widely telecast and President Dwight David Eisenhower's address was radio broadcast through the Voice of America in thirty-four languages. In 1954, businessmen in the Washington, D.C. area became involved and greatly expanded the program with the Christmas Pageant of Peace. The Pageant centered around the lighting of the Christmas tree, and included various elements such as a life-sized reproduction of the nativity scene. Every year from 1954 to 1972, a tree was cut and brought to the White House from a different US state and installed at the Ellipse. The ceremony of the tree lighting was