860,000 fireworks, a Ferris wheel on the National Mall, and an eight-leader summit pulled together in 36 hours. Ambassador Monica Crowley joins “The Sitdown with Alex Swoyer” to talk diplomacy, history, and America’s biggest birthday party yet.
The chief of protocol pulls back the curtain on life inside Blair House, the case for a White House ballroom and what world leaders really think of President Trump.
[SWOYER] Tell us a little bit about your role as chief of protocol, what goes into it. And also, I wanted to use that as a moment for you to make the case for the ballroom here at the White House complex. I know that you would probably utilize it quite a bit.
[CROWLEY] Well, first of all, it’s the honor of a lifetime to serve as chief of protocol of the United States. And I’ll never forget when President Trump offered me the position. He called me and he said, you know, I can’t really think of anybody better to represent the American people and the United States to the rest of the world.
Which, for me, as someone who grew up loving her country and really devoting so much of my adult life to supporting America and trying to advance her around the world, that was the highest compliment I could ever get.
So I take this responsibility very seriously. It’s a great honor and a tremendous blessing.
The job itself entails managing all of the president’s, the vice president’s, and the secretary of state’s diplomatic engagements. I’m really blessed, Alex, with a tremendously talented and dedicated team without whom I couldn’t do any of this. So I want to give them a huge shout out. They work around the clock, as we all do, for this president, for the country.
[SWOYER] I’m sure it’s a busy job for all administrations, but especially a President Trump administration, which keeps it super busy.
[CROWLEY] Yes, for every president it is always incredibly busy, but President Trump has taken it next level. And I think actually last year, the first year of his second term, we actually set a record for the total number of visits. I think it’s over 180 visits of either presidential, vice presidential, or foreign ministerial leaders coming to the United States and/or interacting with our principals abroad. So we did set a record last year.
Everybody wanted to come see President Trump, particularly in the first 100 days in the first year. And my team and I are the ones who manage all of those diplomatic engagements.
So my job as chief of protocol and my team’s job is to create the most robust environment, the greatest kind of climate for the most effective diplomacy to be carried out by the president, the vice president, and the secretary of state. So we make sure all of the details, all of the logistics are locked down before the visit occurs. And then, of course, we execute during the visit.
When we go abroad for different summits, we also work with our counterparts abroad. We just came back from China. I was working very closely with the Chinese chief of protocol, their embassy in the United States, all of their personnel on the ground in Beijing to make sure that both the president has everything he needs to execute well, but also that our foreign counterparts have the access and resources that they need to do their jobs well.
We want to see the most successful diplomacy for the United States and America’s interests. And that’s what we take care of on our end.
[SWOYER] One of the things you were talking about was, we’re here at the Blair House, of course, right across from the White House. What’s the most interesting thing about this, you know, right here? You were telling me a little bit about the wallpaper that people don’t know. And do you entertain here, or would it be easier — I mentioned the ballroom — would something like that, for certain events, be easier for the chief of protocol to execute?
[CROWLEY] Well, first of all, welcome to historic Blair House. This was built by the Blair Brothers in, I believe, the 1740s. So the main entrance of the Blair House, which I will show you after the interview, is so gorgeous. And the marble on the floor, Alex, is the original marble that was laid when the original townhouse was built by the Blair Brothers. So on that marble, every American president since Andrew Jackson has walked on that marble. Very cool.
My favorite room in the Blair House is known as the Lincoln Room, for good reason. Abraham Lincoln used to retreat across the street from the White House, used to come here, hang out with his friends, the Blair brothers, and used to stay in that room and just read. They’d build him a fire. We no longer allow fires here at the Blair House — we don’t want to burn down the place. But when Lincoln was here, they’d build him a fire, and he would sit in that room and read and write his correspondence.
We have one of his original desks in that room. We have the last photograph ever taken of Abraham Lincoln before his assassination. We have so many historic artifacts in the entire house.
Harry Truman actually ran his presidency from Blair House when he was gutting the White House. It needed a massive overhaul. 1948, 1949, lasted his entire term.
[SWOYER] I think that’s one of the last major renovations the White House has seen.
[CROWLEY] Right. And Harry Truman got no pushback at all, unlike President Trump.
[SWOYER] I guess there wasn’t Truman TDS, or is that what we should coin it?
[CROWLEY] Some, but not enough to push back. The White House was literally falling apart. So Truman understood we have to preserve — this is an American artifact and sacred ground. So he moved in here. He ran his presidency from the Blair House. Cabinet room right behind you, his Oval Office down the hall a little way. So every inch of Blair House has just extraordinary history to it.
Watch the video for the full conversation.
