On This Date in History: According to H.L. Mencken, the first
bathtub was installed in the White House in 1851 by President
Millard Fillmore. Mencken wrote in a New York newspaper that the
first bathtub in the United States was an “elegant mahogany
contraption” installed in the home of a Cincinnati businessman
in 1842. He said after that point, that the practice of bathing
became popular with the wealthy. He said when word reached the
masses a public outcry against the “epicurean and obnoxious toy
from England” was “designed to corrupt the democratic simplicity
of the republic.” Mencken added that it was Fillmore was
responsible for the public’s acceptance for the habit of regular
bathing. On this day in 1917, Mencken was basking in the glow
created by his article in the New York Evening Mail titled” A
Neglected Anniversary.” He was probably still chuckling the day
after his work was published because it was an elaborate hoax.
December 1917 was a time of great sadness around the world due
to World War I. He d