Saturday, November 14, 2015

Eskimo Bill



No more the sweltering president,
     When summer comes around,
Will have to seek a cool retreat
     On some far distant ground.
For in his offices at home
     The latest papers state,
By artificial means he’ll have
     An igloo up to date.



c. Nov. 14, ‘09


President William Howard Taft also attempted to install a type of air conditioning in the expanded West Wing in 1909. The experimental system consisted of electric fans that blew over great bins of ice in the attic, cooling the air, which was forced through the air ducts of the heating system. This never worked well enough and was soon abandoned. Taft also built a sleeping porch, a screened-in room on the roof of the White House for a cool place to sleep amid breezes on summer evenings.





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