D.C. — Norman Rockwell's 1943 illustration suite, "So You Want to See The President!" became publicly viewable on June 25, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The White House Historical Association acquired the original paintings for $7.25 million, the highest amount the association has spent on a single piece of art.

The illustrations will remain on public display through June 2027 at the association's "The People's House" education center. A federal judge ruled in 2025 that William Elam, grandson of former presidential press secretary Stephen Early, had sole ownership of the paintings. Early commissioned Rockwell to create the piece and received the original paintings after they were published in The Saturday Evening Post in November 1943.

The illustrations depict people waiting to see President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including Secret Service officers, White House reporters, Miss America, a cameraman, a Scottish soldier, and military officials. President Roosevelt appears in a small sketch in the lower right corner. Rockwell sketched the scene while sitting in the West Wing with visitors.

A fire in May 1943 destroyed Rockwell's studio in Vermont, along with his initial sketches and photographs for the work. He returned to the White House to recreate the work after the fire. The White House Historical Association identified Rosemary LaPlanche, Miss America of 1941, as the model for Miss America in the painting. However, Neil McIntyre stated his mother, Marie McIntyre, posed as the model at age 17.

"She was 17 years old when she sat for [Rockwell]," McIntyre said. "She described his demeanor as business-like." Rockwell changed the hair color of the Miss America model from blonde to red in the painting.

Another figure in the painting, Eloise English, was a member of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). She wore her dress blues when she visited the White House in 1943 but appears in a white uniform in the painting. English later married Thomas Davies. Meredith Davies Hadaway, their daughter, recounted her father's intention upon seeing English: "As soon as I get back stateside, I'm going to look her up." Davies Hadaway added, "And that's exactly what he did." She also noted, "My mother was not a very sentimental person in general, but she saved both the drawing and a copy of the magazine for her whole long life." Thomas Davies died in 1991, and Eloise English Davies died in 2015.

The sketches hung in the White House for over 40 years before being returned to William Elam in 2022. Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, said the association sought to acquire the works for public viewing. "Early wanted to show President Roosevelt as accessible, as being engaged with the American people at a time when you could only know what was going on in the White House by reading the newspaper or listening on the radio," McLaurin said. "And since they had been seen by the eyes of so many presidents and first ladies and senior White House staff and important visitors from around the world, we wanted the American people to see them."