In November 1948, President Harry S. Truman and his family were forced to vacate the White House regarding concerns over the building’s structural integrity. Truman had moved into the White House after taking office in 1945, but a series of incidents — including one in which the leg of his daughter’s piano fell through the floor — affirmed that the residence required extensive renovations. A dissatisfied Truman called repairs from Theodore Roosevelt’s administration a “botch job.” Analysts also suggested that the building deteriorated during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time in office, as the Great Depression and World War II forced FDR...