Heavy rain, like today, is what set a chain of events in motion in the 1920s that nearly led to the collapse of the White House in 1948. The story begins with Calvin Coolidge and ends with Harry Truman /1
President Coolidge, sick of a leaky White House roof, moved out while a third floor was added to the mansion (shown here during construction in 1927). But this new floor was built with a steel frame that was too heavy for the mansion's old wooden frame
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The weight from the new third floor (it's hard to see from street level as it is recessed) nearly caused the White House to collapse in 1948; one leg of a piano that Harry and Bess Truman gave to daughter Margaret actually crashed through the ceiling below
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That the White House nearly collapsed in 1948 was kept hidden from the public; President Truman himself thought it would be seen as a metaphor for his struggling 1948 campaign - which he was expected to lose to New York's Republican Gov., Thomas Dewey
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But Truman, of course, came from behind to pull off a stunning upset over Gov. Dewey. When the Trumans returned to the White House from Missouri, here's what happened: (excerpt from "Under This Roof," the 2015 book by WWR's Paul Brandus)
