The historic White House movie theater is gone. Here’s a design peek into its past

For decades, the East Wing theater served as a point of connection between the president and the public. Now it’s a pile of rubble.

During his two terms from 1953 to 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower reportedly spent hours tucked away inside the teal-and-gold movie theater in the White House’s East Wing, watching more than 200 Western films. Years later, Bill Clinton used the theater—then decked out in a very ‘90s combination of red and tan—to view Schindler’s List and Naked Gun. Even President Trump himself used the theater, now with an art-deco-inspired red-and-gold look, for a screening of Finding Dory back in 2017.