Politics

Hold The Egg Roll, Please

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 16, 2001 / 10:59 AM EDT / CBS

Intermittent rain canceled President Bush's first Easter Egg Roll at the White House, forcing lines of children outside to settle for a tour of the White House.

Instead of rolling painted eggs down the South Lawn, the children and parents who stood outside in the rain waiting for the festivities would tour the mansion and get a commemorative Easter egg to keep, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Mr. Bush spent about 20 minutes greeting those being welcomed inside the White House, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter Maer. The White House also handed out Easter eggs to the children.

Children dressed in their Easter best and accompanied by their parents had lined up outside the White House waiting for hours for the start of the egg roll. The weather forced those same parents and children into a snaking line down the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House, waiting for a trek inside the mansion.

Claire and Gabrielle Saba, 9-year-old twins from Great Falls, Va., stood in front the White House gate with their umbrellas, wearing disappointed but excited expressions. "I wish it wasn't canceled. I could do it with an umbrella in my hand," Gabrielle said.

A tour of the White House "is better than nothing," Claire chimed in. "It's going to be OK because you still get your Easter egg and at least you get to tour the White House."

Jack and Pat Shea of Springfield, Va., had just rolled their 18-month-old daughter Sylvia and 4-year-old son Tommy up to the White House gate when the announcement came that the roll was canceled and a tour had been substituted.

Pat Shea attended the White House Easter egg roll in the 1960s as a child and had been looking forward to taking her children for their first experience on the South Lawn.

"I came to the White House when I was about 4. I don't remember it, but my parents do," she said. "It would have been nice to send my parents a picture of their grandchildren at the egg roll but it's not going to happen. We'll send them a picture of us with the commemorative egg."

The White House Easter egg roll has a century-old tradition. In the late 1870s, Congress scrapped its own Easter Monday event after deciding that the Capitol lawn should not be used as a children's playground, according to historian William Seale. The event was moved to the White House where it's been held every year except during World War I and World War II.