A new White House tour featuring video messages from Joe and Jill Biden has been blasted as creepy, narcissistic and a modern-day torture device.
The First Lady on Monday unveiled her reimagined public tour, which she says will engage visitors senses and teach them about the mansions history, as well as the events that happened there.
Tourists will be welcomed to the East Wing, the dedicated office space for the First Lady and her staff, by a hologram-like recording of Jill, while President Biden will be on video in the East Room, the largest room in the executive residence, to teach visitors about historical moments that happened there.
The project - which cost $5million and took two years to complete - takes the living history even further by having tourists listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt giving his famed fireside chats in the Diplomatic Reception Room, the same place he recorded to talks during the Great Depression and World War II.
Dr Biden says the tour will allow people explore areas of the White House that were previously cordoned off and touch, hear, and see up close, but the American public seemingly dislikes the project, saying it is dumb and no one wants that.
A new White House tour featuring video messages from Joe and Jill Biden has been blasted as creepy, narcissistic and a modern-day torture device
A new stop in the White House Public Tour features the previously off-limits Diplomatic Reception Room, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt recorded his fireside chats
A panel with a video display informs visitors about the history of the White Houses Library
Video screens show a rotating collection of images from previous presidencies along the wall of the East Colonnade
Social media users blasted the project after footage from inside the White House was shared Wednesday on X.
One user branded the video Bidens as creepy, while another described the whole tour as being unbelievable.
Talk about weird, one X user wrote.
In some societies, they would use these videos as a torture device! echoed another.
Another, seemingly referencing how the Bidens will be vacating the White House after the upcoming election, said: These are coming down regardless of who wins.
Some users said that including videos of ones self in a tour is called narcissism, while others joked that it was the Administrations last minute bid to leave behind a positive mark.
Even the White House needs a little extra help to make the Bidens look good! one said.
Others stated that the project, which was funded by a $5million gift from the History Channel to the National Park Service, was a waste of money. The White House is a national park.
Dr Biden says the tour will allow people explore areas of the White House that were previously cordoned off and touch, hear, and see up close, but the American public seemingly dislikes the project, saying it is dumb and no one wants that
The updated tour includes experimental signage, a digital living timeline of the White House, multi-sensory reader rails, and a three-dimensional architectural model of 18-acre White House campus that explains how the executive mansion was built and expanded over the past 200-plus years.
It also features an expanded route, allowing tourists to go into several rooms that were previously cordoned off at the doorway, such as the library; the China Room, which houses the collection of presidential place settings; and the Vermeil Room, which houses a collection of gold-plated silver tableware.
Theres also greater access to the East Room and State Dining Room, and the Red, Blue and Green Rooms, all located on the floor above, known as the State Floor.
New displays, or reader rails, provide written details about the rooms, their contents and some of the history that happened there, in addition to offering experiences that encourage visitors to touch, see and hear.
For example, the display in the China Room plays a brief loop of some of the place settings.
In the State Dining Room, theres a replica of a prayer thats on the mantel beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln so people can now read it because they were kept too far away from it.
New to the tour is the Diplomatic Reception Room, where President Roosevelt recorded his fireside chats. Snippets of some of those conversations will now play for visitors.
First lady Jill Biden gives students a tour of the White House on the day of the unveiling of the new enhanced White House public tour, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024
First lady Jill Biden talks to a group of students in the previously off-limits Diplomatic Reception Room
A panel with the replica of a Philco radio from 1939 helps inform visitors about the history of the White Houses Diplomatic Room,
A new, large video display informs visitors about the history and importance of the White House Grand Staircase, which leads from the residence to the Entrance Hall. Pictured are Michelle and Barack Obama on one of the screens
As a teacher for 40 years, I know that we all learn in different ways, the first lady, who teaches English and writing at a community college, said Monday at a White House event to mark the unveiling of the updated tour.
People use all of their senses to learn, she added. Weve made replicas so that you can feel the features of some of the sculptures faces and touch the shining fabric on the furniture of the Blue Room.
You can now hear President Roosevelts "fireside chats" in the room in which he recorded them, so you can feel as if you are there right beside him.
Dr Biden also noted how they added screens and information so you can read about what you see in each of the rooms, for you visual learners.
After walking the tour route herself, the first lady decided to expand it and add more educational and historical content, according to aides. It had been decades since the tour was last updated.
The White House tour now lets visitors touch, hear and see their history up close, she said Sunday. Some 10,000 people tour the White House every week.
A panel informs visitors about the history of the White House Blue Room, part of the new educational enhancements to the official public tour of the executive mansion
A panel with images and reproductions of sculpture that guests can touch inform vistitors about the history of the White House Red Room
A panel with images and reproductions of sculpture that guests can touch inform visitors about the history of the White House Red Room
Currently, the tour features video messages from President Biden and Dr Biden.
The next president, who takes office in January, and his - or her - spouse can record their own greetings since the changes are meant to carry over from one administration to the next.
Collages of printed photos that line the hallway have also been made digital, making it easier to change them around.
President Biden, speaking Sunday evening at an event celebrating the new tours, said: Its the People’s House. We’re just renters.
The first ladys office has worked on the project for the past two years with the National Park Service, the White House Curators office, the private, nonprofit White House Historical Association, presidential libraries and the History Channel, which partnered with ESI Design on the interactive experiences.