Historian Mark K.

The White House issued a vaguely worded statement at first, although Trump's doctors answered some questions from reporters on Saturday. Like many administrations before him, the White House tried to keep Wilson's sickness a secret. But with an election coming on, Roosevelt and the White House staff issued a statement saying the problem was far less serious. The first known instance of a so-called pool reporter inside the White House was in 1881 when James A. Garfield was shot. “I listen for every sound,” Trusdell wrote to his wife in a note about his overnight Garfield watch at the White House.