Remarks to the Delegates to the Theater Owners Convention

It is a pleasure to have you here this morning. I hope you are having a pleasant visit here in the Capital City, and that you will find out everything you want to know about it.

This rose garden here is quite a place for gatherings of this sort. I have received people here from every section of the United States. I have awarded Congressional Medals of Honor here in this rose garden. In fact, I pinned a medal on General Montgomery here in this rose garden once, and gave the Congressional Medal of Honor to General Wainwright--and have given General Marshall and General Eisenhower all medals out here in this garden.

I had an interesting experience with General Montgomery. He asked me why they called it the White House, and I told him that in 1814 the British burned it down and smoked it all up and we had to paint it to cover up the smoke marks. He asked me why we didn't send the British a bill for it, and I said I didn't think that would be of any use because we would have to lend them the money anyway. That ended the conversation.

But there have been some pleasant experiences in this garden, and this morning is certainly one of those experiences. I hope you will enjoy yourselves while you are here in Washington, and that you will go home with a good idea of your Government.

We do a lot of work here in this city that people don't understand. They take it for granted that the President lives in a plush house and that he just spends his day enjoying himself, meeting people such as you, and that he doesn't have anything to do.

My day starts at 6 o'clock in the morning and ends at 11 o'clock at night. I work 17 hours a day, every day in the year. And when I happen to be away from the White House for a day, like yesterday when I went to Philadelphia for that hospital meeting, it sometimes takes me a week to catch up with things that pile up on the desk.

But it's no playboy's business. Unless you want to work, why you have got no business hunting for a job in the White House. Any man that would stand around and watch the President work would be rather foolish to want the job, I'll say that.

Thank you very much.