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
National Christmas Tree (United States) a three-week-long series of nightly performances and religious observances. The Board of Trade was also interested in the idea because of waning interest in the lighting ceremony. The pageant would, however, require that the Christmas tree be moved off the White House grounds and that the tree lighting ceremony be moved from Christmas Eve to earlier in December. President Dwight Eisenhower approved the plan on November 4. The 1954 Pageant of Peace was held on December 17, 1954. The Ellipse became the site of the National Community Christmas Tree, and cut trees were used because Park Service officials felt that