8. Following the inauguration of Richard Nixon, the White House bowling alley became a staple of life in the official residence of the American head of state
First added to the conveniences of the White House in 1947, in the location of the present-day Situation Room, bowling lanes were fitted in the ground floor of the West Wing as a birthday gift for Harry Truman. A questionable present for the 33rd President of the United States, who did not personally care much for bowling, Truman nonetheless maintained the addition and encouraged staff to form a collegial league. Moved to the Old Executive Office Building in 1955 to make way for a mimeograph room, upon occupation of the White House by Richard and Patricia Nixon – both avid bowlers – better accommodations were sought to meet their standards.
Renovating the White House basement, which had been constructed under the East Wing during the Second World War to serve as an emergency bomb shelter, a section of the sub-basement beneath the North Portico and its adjacent driveway was set aside for Nixon’s passion. Financed privately by friends, the Nixons oversaw the construction of a brand new one-land alley in 1969. Becoming one of Nixon’s favorite locations to retreat for quiet, according to rumor one night Nixon invited pot washer Frankie Blair, who found the troubled president wandering the halls, to bowl with him to help take his mind off the political turbulence engulfing his administration.