"May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof"
Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 2 November 1800
John Adams wrote this letter to his wife Abigail on 2 November 1800 from the new "presidents house" in "Washington City," which was still unfinished. Adams was the first president to inhabit the executive mansion in Washington. Aware of the significance of the occasion, he wrote to Abigail, "...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." More than 100 years later, Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had Adams's prayer placed above the mantel in the State Dining Room of the White House.
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