Fast Facts About the White House Situation Room
From JFK’s commission of a Situation Room during his presidency to the president who entirely avoided the room, read ahead for fast facts about the White House Situation Room from George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey.
1. The Situation Room was first built in 1961, commissioned by President John F. Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs invasion.
It was recommended to him by Air Force Aide Godfrey McHugh who, coincidentally, was an old flame of Jackie Kennedy’s.
2. The president who used the Situation Room the MOST was Lyndon B. Johnson, who obsessively called for updates on the Vietnam War.
The president who used the Situation Room the LEAST was Richard Nixon, who avoided it like the plague.
3. As part of an army parapsychology project called Operation Grill Flame, The Situation Room experimented with using psychics and other paranormal methods to gather intelligence.
While critics debate how effective the program was, there were some eerie cases where a psychic provided information that turned out to be accurate.
4. Today, most folks who work in The Situation Room don’t even call it that – it’s referred to as the WHSR, or “whizzer.”
But “The Situation Room” has a nicer ring, and looks a lot better on a book cover.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
George Stephanopoulos, the legendary political news host and former advisor to President Clinton, recounts the history-making crises from the place where twelve presidents made their highest-pressure decisions: the White House Situation Room.
No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, THE SITUATION ROOM will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations, including:
- Incredible minute-by-minute transcripts from the Sit Room after both Presidents Kennedy and Reagan were shot
- The shocking moment when Henry Kissinger raised the military alert level to DEFCON III while President Nixon was drunk in the White House residence
- The extraordinary scene when President Carter asked for help from secret government psychics to rescue American hostages in Iran
- A vivid retelling of the harrowing hours during the 9/11 attack
- New details from Obama administration officials leading up to the raid on Osama Bin Laden
- And a first-ever account of January 6th from the staff inside the Sit Room
THE SITUATION ROOM is the definitive, past-the-security-clearance look at the room where it happened, and the people—the famous and those you’ve never heard of—who have made history within its walls.
