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Jerry Smith, North Portico, c. 1889. Smith started working at the White House during the Ulysses S. Grant administration in the late 1860s, and served as butler, cook, doorman, and footman until his retirement some 35 years later. He was often seen with his signature feather duster. Shortly before dying at age 69 in 1904, Smith was visited at his home by President Theodore Roosevelt.
At the turn of the 21st century, experts in public address were asked to identify the top 100 political speeches of the 20th century. Over 100 scholars submitted their choices and among the final 100 were four by first ladies--two by Eleanor Roosevelt, one by Barbara Bush, and one by Hillary Clinton. This upcoming History Happy Hour program explores the entrance of first
Eliza Scidmore earned her journalistic stripes as a “society writer” in Gilded Age Washington, reporting from the White House and around the nation’s capital. Fired by a spirit of adventure, she took up travel writing, educating Americans about little-known places like Alaska and Japan. In her best-known legacy, Scidmore carried home from Japan the idea of planting cherry-blossom trees along
Please join the White House Historical Association as they host authors Jonathan Pliska and Rocco Smirne throughout the day on Easter Monday at the White House Visitor Center. Presigned copies of Gigi at the White House! by Giovanna McBride will also be available!
Deesha Dyer, once a hip-hop journalist and community leader, didn’t expect her path to eventually lead to the White House. Dyer applied for a White House Internship in 2009 as a thirty-one-year-old part-time community college student. This opportunity led to a full-time position and two promotions, later culminating in a more prominent and exclusive role: social secretary at the White Ho
