WASHINGTON -- For the first time in 80 years, a president opened the doors of the White House to all the American people.

George Bush's first morning of business as president included hosting an open house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The last time the chief executive invited the general public into the first family's residence was in 1909, when President William Howard Taft held a public party in the White House.

Nearly 2,000 people waited as long as 12 hours through the night's sub-freezing temperatures for an opportunity to enter the mansion. Those who still remained at dawn were rewarded for their perseverance with a personal welcome by the new first family.

"The president is there shaking hands," one excited Georgetown University student said. "George and Barbara are saying hello to everyone."

The first family took turns greeting visitors every hour during the four-hour event.

"Feeling cold out there?" Bush good-naturedly asked one visiting group.

The new president seemed pleasantly surprised when he leaned out a front window of the White House porch at 7 Saturday morning. A crowd trailing around the entire circumference of the Ellipse dominated the normally placid manicured front lawn bathed in early morning sunshine.

The first group to enter the White House grounds had been waiting outdoors since 8 the previous evening.

A drummer and keyboard player maintained the crowd's morale until the president appeared at the base of the front porch just after 7 Saturday morning. He welcomed the first group and invited them "into America's House."

The tour included a walk through the Rose Garden, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room and State dining room. Tourists stood in silent awe as they studied the portraits of former presidents hanging in the grand hallway.

Arlene Pendergrast of San Antonio, Texas, was impressed with the portraits and said the visit was worth the wait, which for her began at 5 in the morning.

"This brings back memories of so many great Americans," she said. "Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson are my favorites. Johnson had just an amazing rapport with the Congress --he used his Texan charm."

Pendergrast, a civilian executive in the U.S. Army for over 30 years, declined to comment on whether or not the new president has the same qualities as other great Texan statesmen. She did note, "Bush is the first Washington insider to be president in years."

Bush, who claims Texas as his home state, has been reaching out to the Congressional leadership and former opponents to create a bipartisan relationship with Congress. He has also pledged to be a "people president," which the unprecedented open house seems to indicate.

Barbara Bush was quick to show she has already become acquainted with the history of her new home. In the Blue Room, she pointed out two sky blue 18th century French chairs. "Here is where President Gorbechev and President Reagan sat down to complete the details of the INF treaty," she said.

Later in the day, the president and the first lady took turns waving through the mansion's second story windows to spectators chanting "Barbara! Barbara!" and "Where is George?"

Although nearly one million people see the White House every year on formalized tours, this was only the second time this century that the president's mansion was free and open to the public and hosted by the first family itself.