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    The Butler's Role at a State Dinner with Royal Visitors

    Prior to the 1939 visit of the queen and king of England, Eleanor Roosevelt received a State Department memorandum, listing various rules of protocol. Mrs. Roosevelt became concerned about the order in which the Roosevelts, and the queen and king, should be served at the state dinner honoring the royal couple.1"I told Franklin," Mrs. Roosevelt recalled, "that British protocol required

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    The President and His Steward Meet with a Calamity

    John Quincy Adams hired Antoine Michel Giusta as his valet after they met in Belgium in 1814. Giusta was a deserter from Napoleon's army. During the time John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams were living in London, Giusta married Mrs. Adams's maid. Antoine and his wife had managed the Adams' households from the time the Adamses returned to the United

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    The White House Usher on the Role of Television

    "Largely through television," notes historian William Seale, the White House "is the best known house in the world, the instantly familiar symbol of the Presidency, flashed daily on millions and millions of TV screens everywhere."1J. B. West was Assistant Chief Usher at the White House from 1941 to 1957, and Chief Usher from 1957 to 1969. During the Eisenhower administration, West had an

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    Three Ushers Foil an Assassin

    Thomas F. Pendel was a White House doorman from the Abraham Lincoln administration to the turn of the 20th century. By the time Chester A. Arthur succeeded James A. Garfield in September 1881, Pendel had experienced the assassinations of both Lincoln and Garfield.Even before Arthur moved into the White House, a man who "seemed perfectly rational" came to the Executive

  • Scholarship

    White House Workers Timeline

    The White House Historical Association has undertaken a research initiative called "Slavery in the President's Neighborhood." With this initiative, the Association seeks to tell the stories of the enslaved and free African Americans who built, lived, and worked at the White House, as well as the surrounding homes on Lafayette Park. While there are few written accounts of their experiences,

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    Smithsonian Festival Honors White House Workers

    Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the White House, the Festival of American Folklife featured a program entitled "Workers at the White House" on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Between June 25 and July 5, 1992, more than thirty former White House employees participated in small panel discussions, and took questions from delighted audiences of Festival visitors.The group's chain of

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    Preface - The White House in Gingerbread

    My memories transport me back to a time, just a few years ago and a few days before Christmas, when I was the White House executive pastry chef and the annual White House holiday parties have come to an end. We are busily cleaning the Pastry Shop. This is the time of year we go through everything—every refrigerator, walk-in co

  • Scholarship

    Gingerbread for Home Kitchens

    This recipe is suited for the home kitchen and will produce enough gingerbread to make a house using the template provide in the back pocket of The White House in Gingerbread: Memories & Recipes book. Makes 2 sheets (12 x 18") Use a 5-quart mixing bowl Ingredients3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 5 ounces molasses (liquid measure) 5 ounces honey (

  • Scholarship

    “A Place of Peace”

    “He is an organizer, a methodizer, a man of decision, a judge of values, and above all he knows the worth of time,” wrote author Elbert Hubbard of George Bruce Cortelyou (1862-1940), whose mastery of many practical administrative matters and his ability to keep up with an enormous stream of paperwork made him the forerunner of today’s White House chiefs

  • Scholarship

    Inside the Working White House: Early 19th Century

    Diaries, memoirs, and other historical records served as the basis for this speculative glimpse of an ordinary day for domestic servants in the Jefferson White House. "The third of April 1807 dawned chilly, and the steward, Étienne Lemaire, would have been up early to start the footmen laying fires in the hearths. The footmen were soon to get on with the d