Introduction to White House visitor log data

 Since the 21st century, in order to improve the transparency of government governance, organizations such as the conservative legal organization Judicial Watch, the American watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the National Security Numerous non-governmental watchdog groups, including the Archives, have been urging the U.S. federal government to release White House visitor records. After taking office in 2009, the Obama administration reached a settlement with Citizens for Responsible and Ethical Washington and agreed to publish the White House visitor logs after September 15, 2009, on the basis of a "voluntary disclosure policy." This also made the Obama administration the first A U.S. government that releases White House visitor records to the public. After taking office in 2017, the Trump administration took full advantage of the latest legal rulings and announced that it would no longer release the White House visitor logs due to privacy and national security concerns. After Biden took office as President of the United States, he once again released the White House visitor records.

 The White House Visitor Log records visitors at various events, including meetings, dinners, speeches, and social events. These activities may involve the President, Vice President, White House officials, Cabinet secretaries and other government officials. The White House Visitor Log also records visitors from a variety of industries and organizations, including business leaders, academics, private citizens, and organizational representatives. It is a symbol of transparency and openness, and is an important part of the U.S. government's efforts to demonstrate government transparency to the public.

 According to the "Voluntary Disclosure Policy", visitor logs will not be published under the following five special circumstances:

• One involves personal privacy or law enforcement issues.
• The second involves White House staff.
• Third, it may threaten national security interests.
• Fourth, it does not involve any official or political affairs.
• Fifth is related to a small number of particularly sensitive meetings.

 CnOpenData has compiled the White House visitor log data, including detailed information such as visitor names, interviewee names, arrival and departure times, and specific locations visited, to provide data support for related research.

Time interval

• Obama administration period: 2009.9-2016
• Biden administration period: 2021-2022.11

Field display

Sample data

Related literature

• Brown, J. R., Huang, J. K. 2020. "All the president's friends: Political access and firm value". Journal of Financial Economics, 138 (2): 415–431.
• Travers Barclay Child, Nadia Massoud, Mario Schabus, Yifan Zhou. 2021. "Surprise Election for Trump Connections". Journal of Financial Economics, 140.(2).
• Bailey, K.L. and Trantham, A. 2021. "Racial Politics and the Presidency: Analyzing White House Visits by Professional Sports Teams". Social Science Quarterly, 102: 897-919.
• Alexander F. Wagner, Richard J. Zeckhauser, Alexandre Ziegler,. 2018. "Company stock price reactions to the 2016 election shock: Trump, taxes, and trade". Journal of Financial Economics, 130(2): 428- 451.

Data update frequency

Updated from time to time

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