The Waldorf’s Presidential Suite Isn’t Very Presidential Anymore

The Waldorf’s Presidential Suite Isn’t Very Presidential Anymore

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
By Suelain Moy

Months after the Waldorf Astoria was sold to a Chinese company, the State Department is abandoning a decades-long tradition of putting up U.S. diplomats at the storied hotel on New York’s Park Avenue.

This fall President Obama and state department officials will not be staying at the Waldorf for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and will check into the New York Palace Hotel instead.

According to the New York Post, “every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover” has stayed in the presidential suite at the Waldorf when visiting New York, including President Obama. Presidential artifacts in the suite include President Jimmy Carter’s eagle desk set, one of President John F. Kennedy’s rocking chairs, a gold oval mirror from Ronald Reagan, and the personal desk of General Douglas MacArthur. The hotel is the site of Chinese history as well. On his first historic trip to the U.S. in 1974, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping stayed at the Waldorf and attended a banquet given in his honor by then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Related: U.S. Reviews Waldorf Astoria Sale to Chinese Firm

The $1.95 billion sale of the 47-story tower to the Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group first raised eyebrows in Washington last October. Even though the previous owner, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, will continue to manage the hotel for the next 100 years, news of a “major renovation” sparked fears of possible Chinese cyber-espionage and surveillance.

Those fears were further heightened earlier this month when U.S. officials blamed Chinese hackers for a massive cyberattack targeting the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, exposing sensitive information about 4 million current and former federal workers. China has denied any involvement.

Will Trump's Tax Cuts Really Happen? Economists Are Surprisingly Optimistic

By Yuval Rosenberg

Despite all the thorny questions swirling around President Trump's nascent tax reform plan, 29 of 38 economists surveyed by Bloomberg in a monthly poll said they expect Congress to cut taxes by November of next year.

The hitch: The economists don’t expect the cuts will help the economy much. The median projection of a larger group of 71 economists is for 2018 growth of 2.3 percent, up only slightly from 2.1 percent this year — and by 2019, the economists see growth slipping back to 2 percent.

Clinton Loses Altitude in Iowa

By The Fiscal Times Staff

 

Sanders and Biden Pressure Clinton in a Three-Way Race

By The Fiscal Times Staff

 

Super PACS Have Raised a Startling $258 Million…So Far

By The Fiscal Times Staff

 

Clinton Improves in National Poll, but Biden's Potential Grows

By The Fiscal Times Staff