Pew 54, Where Are You?

American Minute for November 1st:

On NOVEMBER 1, 1800, John Adams became the first U.S. President to move into the White House. The following day he wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, in which he composed a beautiful prayer. A portion of John Adams' prayer was inscribed on the mantlepiece in the State Dining Room by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It reads: "I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." After the White House was finished being built, the next building constructed on Lafayette Square was St. John's Episcopal Church. Because every President since James Madison worshipped there at some time, Pew 54 has been designated for the First Family. Other historic Washington, D.C. area churches include: Christ Church in Alexandria, where President Washington attended; the National Presbyterian Church, where Truman attended; the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where Presidents Lincoln and Eisenhower attended and where Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall pastored from 1937-1949; and Holy Trinity Catholic Church, where John F. Kennedy attended.

Endnotes:
Adams, John. Nov. 1800, letter to his wife, Abigail Adams. John Adam's Prayer (Washington, D.C.: White House Collection). John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1855, 1980), p. 382. Charles Fadiman, ed., The American Treasury (NY: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1955), p. 317.

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