When Easter Eggs Roll at the White House, a UMD Alum Scrambles

The thousands of children and their families planning to descend on the White House grounds on Monday for the annual Easter Egg Roll will find plenty of brightly colored eggs—and become part of a University of Maryland alum’s running history of the 148-year-old spring tradition.

The second edition of Jonathan Pliska’s book, “The White House Easter Egg Roll: A History for All Ages,” was published in March by the White House Historical Association. It includes details of egg rolls held since the original 2018 publication and new colorful illustrations by John Hutton, an art history professor at Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A landscape historian who earned his Master of Historic Preservation degree at UMD in 2007, Pliska said he wanted to revisit the Easter Egg Roll because it encourages people in the nation’s capital to put aside politics and the news cycle while enjoying the “People’s House.” 

“It’s just meant to be a fun day, one of the rare days when people just have a good time, regardless of your political affiliation,” said Pliska, who in 2016 also authored “A Garden for the President: A History of the White House Grounds.”

The Easter Monday celebration is so cherished, Pliska noted, that it has been canceled or relocated from the White House grounds only 17 times since 1878, and then only because of two world wars, a major White House renovation and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eggs first started rolling in Washington in the early 1800s, Pliska said. By one account, the idea came from first lady Dolley Madison in 1814. For six or so decades, children rolled eggs down the sloping lawn of the U.S. Capitol. 

But the kids got the boot after Easter 1876, when Congress banned the annual tradition from the Capitol grounds. 

“They left behind a huge mess every year,” Pliska said. “Congress essentially got tired of dealing with it.”

In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes offered up the White House. About 200 egg rollers showed up, and one of Washington’s oldest and most popular traditions was born.

Pliska, who plans to attend this year’s Easter Egg Roll with his 3-year-old daughter, Leia, recently shared other fun parts of its history.

Eww, what’s that smell? President Grover Cleveland hosted an epic egg roll in 1885, inviting participants inside the White House, where they ground “bits of smashed egg and broken eggshells into the plush carpet,” Pliska wrote. In Cleveland’s second term, starting in 1893, his two young daughters joined him and first lady Frances Cleveland in games such as “egg ball” (presumably akin to baseball), “toss and catch” and “egg croquet.” While probably an exaggeration, Pliska said, one newspaper account said the “odor of broken eggs could be smelled 3 miles away.”

That’ll cost you: By 1905, with crowds reaching about 50,000, President Theodore Roosevelt restricted the event to children and their accompanying adults. Some business-savvy kids charged childless grown-ups a dime apiece to get them past the gate. 

“You never underestimate children,” Pliska said with a laugh. 

A casualty of war: During and shortly after World War I and World War II, the Easter Egg Roll was canceled as a security precaution and as part of patriotic food-saving efforts. Those included a 1918 campaign for an “eggless Easter,” aimed at saving an estimated 60 million eggs nationwide. By 1948, eggs were no longer a hot commodity. But the return of the Easter Egg Roll would be delayed another five years, while the South Lawn served as “one big construction site” when President Harry S. Truman renovated the aging White House.

Presidents and superheroes: President Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the record for hosting the most egg rolls: nine. The event hit a 14-year dry spell for presidential participation starting in 1961, when Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon all skipped it. Pliska said he’s not certain why, but he suspects privacy concerns. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan added their Hollywood flair in the 1980s, bringing in costumed superhero characters and other performers. 

“That’s when the Easter Egg Roll really became the phenomenon it is today,” Pliska said. 

First ladies: In recent years, first ladies have injected their own initiatives into the Easter Egg Roll. Michelle Obama had a chef teach kids how to cook fresh fruits and vegetables from the White House garden, while Melania Trump encouraged children to write letters of gratitude to the U.S. military as part of her “Be Best” campaign.