Trump destroys the East Wing — and decades of important history

When bulldozers began to tear down the East Wing of the White House this week to clear the way for President Donald Trump’s $250 million ballroom, historians raised alarms that important American history was being buried in the rubble, including chapters about previous first ladies and their roles uplifting women going back nearly a century.

Among the offices housed in the East Wing is the Office of the First Lady, first professionalized by Eleanor Roosevelt during her husband’s administration. Roosevelt used the East Wing for official functions, as a base of operations for her activism and as a space for interacting with groups representing the American people, from the Girl Scouts to the Women’s Trade Union League.

Betty Ford argued to increase pay for her staff in the East Wing. Rosal