When "People's President" Andrew Jackson took office in 1829, the White House was overrun and trashed by enthusiastic celebrators.
President Clinton, the current self-proclaimed "people's president," might wish that was his biggest worry about those outside the White House fence.
"The White House is the people's house," Clinton has said repeatedly since opening his official residence to visitors the day after his 1993 inaugural.
But just yards from where visitors leave the White House daily, a homeless man who was said to be charging toward the mansion with a knife was shot by police Tuesday.
It was the third time in two months gunfire rang out across the White House grounds.
"The White House has always attracted people who are mentally unstable," said Chuck Vance, a former Secret Service agent who runs a security consulting firm.
Once again Tuesday tourists dived for the pavement. Once again the motive of the suspect was uncertain. And once again questions arose about White House security.
"It's unfortunate this happened in front of the White House, but it's just a typical police action that took place - that takes place every day in Washington," Secret Service spokesman Dave Adams said.
The nation's capital - a yearly contender for the dubious distinction of the USA's murder capital - does have a reputation for high crime in some quarters.
Rarely, however, has that shadow extended to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
That's why Tuesday's incident caused little fretting in the travel industry. Agents bluntly said unless a tourist is shot in front of the White House, visitors will keep coming.
"It seems to be an everyday occurrence," said tourist Steve Hobbs of London, where the street in front of 10 Downing Street - the prime minister's residence - is closed to everyday citizens.
"Anyone can do it, can't they? Any madman. All the security in the world is not going to stop anyone," he said.
Police stopped the man - identified as Marcelino Corniel, 33, of Los Angeles - but the shooting revived lingering unease about possible holes in security first raised when a plane crashed onto White House grounds this fall.
"They had another shooting? Holy mackerel," said Betty Arsenault of Longwood, Fla., a tourist visiting the White House area after the incident.
"People think (the White House) is some kind of target practice place," says cabdriver Jason Lee. "I guess Bill Clinton will have to walk around with some kind of Army personnel carrier."
Security has been tightened in recent years at the White House, with the addition of large concrete barriers to prevent suicide bombers driving a vehicle into the building.
But when a light plane crashed into White House grounds Sept. 13, just yards from the Oval Office, the debate was renewed. A security evaluation, ordered by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, is due in January.
Some want to close off Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicles and limit pedestrian traffic around White House grounds, which Clinton opposes.
Police saw no connection among the recent events. And while Clinton has said he views the incidents seriously, he continues to regularly jog in nearby public areas.
Clinton has not been in apparent physical danger in the recent events: He was not in the White House when the plane crashed and was in other parts of the building during the two shooting incidents.
And Clinton has shown no public inclination to reduce mingling when in public.
Lynn Wilson of Greenbrier, Ark., had just toured the White House when Tuesday's shooting occurred: "Having been in the White House, you realize how exposed people are in there."
Wilson said the dilemma is between protecting the First Family while continuing the "freedom and accessibility" of the White House. "But what if he is assassinated?" she asked.
Many of the regular inhabitants of Lafayette Park - across the street from the White House - are demonstrative. Whether that translates into danger is open to debate.
Police have been paying closer attention to protesters and homeless people who regularly gather in the park as a result of the recent incidents.
Park regulars complain police hit their signs and rouse them from their sleep as a form of harassment.
"(The shooting) was a manifestation of the situation of homeless people who sleep in the open," said Keith Mitchell of the Community for Creative Non-Violence.
Mitchell said homeless people face threats from drunken students, rats, disease and Park Police. "These threats force homeless people to carry protection," he said, primarily sticks.
But tourist Mary Teachey of Virginia Beach, Va., called White House security "pathetic." She urged the White House to install bulletproof glass and clear nearby protesters and homeless, who "causes plenty of unnecessary problems."
"I know that infringes on people's rights but it's for the president's security," she said.
Others remain perplexed by the incident.
"I don't understand why so many people want to shoot at the White House," said Chinese tourist Jibin Shao. "The White House is America. It's a peace place."
Contributing: Andrea Stone
Shooting outside the White House A homeless man was critically injured Tuesday morning on the sidewalk outside the White House, the latest incident there in the past four months. What happened: 1. U.S. Park Police roust Marcelino Corniel, 33, and other homeless people in Lafayette Park. Witness says Corniel was shouting, "I'm going to get you." 2. Armed with a knife, Corniel rushes across Pennsylvania Avenue toward a Park police officer about 9 a.m. 3. On sidewalk, several officers order him to drop weapon. 4. Police fire two shots. 5. Corniel taken to George Washington University Hospital, where Presdient Reagan was treated after he was shot.
The four incidents -- Sept. 12: A small plane was piloted by a Maryland man crashes into White House grounds just yards from the Oval Office about 2 a.m. Pilot dies in crash. Oct. 29: Gunman Francisco Martin Duran, 26, from Colorado Springs, Colo., sprays White House with 29 rounds from a semi-automatic weapon about 3 p.m. Saturday: Four 9mm bullets are found on White House grounds after two shots reported about 2 a.m. One enters state dining room through a window. Tuesday: Park police critically wound Marcelino Corniel, 33, a homeless man who brandishes a knife at them.
