he White House turned 200 yesterday, and to mark the occasion President Bush buried a time capsule containing a host of items for posterity, ranging from a signed copy of his wife's best-selling "Millie's Book" to a souvenir Bush-Gorbachev watch.

Though originally scheduled for press coverage, the event was closed at the last minute. The White House gave no explanation. Bush stayed away from another event, opened to the press, which featured art on the theme "Life in the White House" by children with disabilities from around the country.

"Thank you very much for joining us on this milestone day, or maybe should I say cornerstone day, even though we still can't figure out where our ancestors put it," Mrs. Bush told her young guests, whose works were displayed on easels around the East Room. "But that's a minor detail. Wherever it is, the White House cornerstone is 200 years old today."

The time capsule ceremony took place at the southwest corner of the White House, near the Rose Garden, where it is thought a polished brass plaque was pressed atop a foundation stone on Oct. 13, 1792, by a group that included Freemasons, federal district commissioners and other community leaders. They later reassembled at a nearby tavern to raise their glasses to the absent President Washington.

Did the Bush's steal the cornerstone? Why did they make the event private at the last minute?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/10/14/white-house-buries-time-capsule/85d803ac-d796-4322-b1a4-ff41e53e67e8/