2020 Ornament: The White House Historical Association’s Official 2020 White House Christmas Ornament honors John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States. With this ornament we remember President Kennedy through his posthumous official White House portrait, made in 1970 by Aaron Shikler, the artist selected by the president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. The portrait, symbolic of his unfinished presidency, hangs in the White House today. The reverse of the ornament features the dates of President Kennedy’s brief term, 1961-1963, on either side of an engraving of the White House.

2019 Ornament: The White House Historical Association’s Official 2019 White House Christmas Ornament honors Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth president of the United States. This ornament symbolizes President Eisenhower’s commitment to innovation. Eisenhower was the first president to fly in a helicopter while in office in July 1957, and thereafter the helicopter became a feature of White House life. It was often used by the president to commute short distances, demonstrating to the public and indeed the world that it was safe.