Updated October 29, 2025 at 6:34 PM CDT
When workers tore down the East Wing to make room for President Trump's new ballroom earlier this month, several longtime White House staples were also lost: the public entrance to the presidential grounds, the first lady's office, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden and a movie theater. First Ladies and their staff worked there for decades.
"It has long been a space of female power and a female niche in the White House," said Elizabeth Rees, a historian and research fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. "With the West Wing being a traditionally male-dominated space, the East Wing was a unique physical space for women to work…and provided them with their own environment in which to flourish."
The East Wing traces its beginnings to 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt built a terrace for guests to enter the presidential complex during social events. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the site to cover up an underground bunker he had built for protection. Office space was also added.
During the Kennedy administration in the 1960s, the first lady's staff expanded rapidly.
"As mass media is on the rise and there's enormous press interest in this young, glamorous first lady and her small children, that interest necessitates that there is a press arm for the first lady to cover her activities and to spread all this information to the press," said Rees.
Jacqueline Kennedy's flagship project as first lady was restoring the White House. That move inspired a trend for first ladies to foster at least one key project. First ladies thus needed bigger staff, but they lacked sufficient office space.
"Betty Ford and earlier First Ladies were pretty much working out of their bedrooms, literally," said MaryAnne Borrelli, author of The Politics of the President's Wife and professor of government at Connecticut College.
When the first lady moved to the East Wing
Plans to move the first lady's office to the East Wing started under the Ford presidency (1974-1977), Borelli said. Rosalynn Carter was the first to have office space for herself and her staff in the East Wing.
"To have a dedicated office space was a key part of the professionalization of the role," said Rees. "[It] meant these women had their own environment to develop policy or projects."
In 1978, a law gave more funding for the first lady and her staff to carry out their duties. Under first lady Carter, Rees said, the staff became formally known as the Office of the First Lady, a professional unit within the Executive Office of the President.
From there, Carter focused on mental health initiatives. Among her successors, Laura Bush launched a literacy campaign, Michelle Obama promoted Let's Move – targeting childhood obesity – and Melania Trump backed Be Best, which advocates for children's wellbeing.
Even though women in the White House made big strides in the East Wing, some had reservations.
"The West Wing is the seat of power in the White House. And it's all about proximity, right?" said Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace & Power of America's Modern First Ladies. "There's a built-in, Siberia nature to the East Wing," added Brower, who covered the Obama administration for Bloomberg News.
Hillary Clinton was the first to have an office in the West Wing, steps from the president's Oval Office.
"She saw the West Wing as the policymaking locus, and the East Wing as more ceremonial and symbolic. And I think over time, she became aware of the power that comes through ceremony and symbolism," said Borrelli.
What's next?
The White House has not yet confirmed whether the newly built wing of the White House will include permanent offices for the first lady. Melania Trump's skeleton staff is currently working out of various offices at the White House.
The East Wing getting torn down "definitely diminishes the role of the first lady… and the fact that we haven't heard from Melania Trump kind of says it all," said Andersen. "I think Donald Trump doesn't really care about the symbolism of the East Wing."
Berelli said Trump is trying to leave his mark on the White House, just like his predecessors – as illustrated by the Truman Balcony and the Rose Garden.
"There's a lot of office space that's now gone. Where are you going to accommodate those people? Are you going to change the West Wing and make space in the West Wing?" Borrelli asked. A ballroom could be converted later on into office space, she added, and it is yet to be seen how long the new structure will last.
This story was edited by Olivia Hampton.
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