Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

One of the grandest events the president presides over every year took place last night,

the lighting of the national Christmas tree.

The tradition dates back to Christmas Eve in 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge,

with 3,000 people looking on, lit up a tree on the White House ellipse.

Not out of a sense of spiritual or national pride, but at the behest of

the Society for Electrical Development, which wanted to promote wider use of electricity.

Every year since then, presidents have relished in the opportunity to appear jolly on the national stage,

while electrifying giant Christmas tree.

But in addition to providing over issues both foreign and domestic,

the president now also presides over trees, both indoors and out.

Let me explain. Beginning in 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has conducted a competition to pick the official White House Blue

Room Christmas tree. This year's Blue Room Tree from North Carolina was recently delivered to the Trump's at the White House.

But the tradition of having a tree inside the White House goes back to at least the 1870s,

when a newspaper reported that a Christmas tree of great glory was displayed in President Ulysses S. Grant's Easterum.

President Benjamin Harrison in 1889 took the tradition further when he set up a tree for his

grandchildren. The tree glowed with wax candles and Harrison even dressed up as Santa Claus.

Let me hope, the president said, that my example will be followed by every family in the land.

Now, you're probably wondering about Christmas lights.

Well, Harrison was still in office when electricity

was introduced to the White House, but he didn't capitalize on the opportunity to become the

first president in history with blinking lights on a tree. Why? Because Harrison and his wife,

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