On December 24, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first national Christmas tree outside the White House. Benjamin Harrison was reportedly the first US president to decorate the White House with a Christmas tree. He set one up inside for his family and White House visitors to enjoy in 1889. In late November 1923, Lucretia Hardy of the DC Community center Department wrote a letter to the president asking that he support her idea to place a Christmas tree on the White House grounds. She said, “It seems that the use of the White House grounds for this Christmas tree will give the sentiment and the exercises a national character.”