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The Working White House: Preparing Desserts - Photo 1

The Working White House: Preparing Desserts - Photo 1

Preparing desserts at a state dinner, 1965. Behind the scenes at a state dinner in honor of Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of West Germany, White House workers prepare the desserts and liqueurs. Butler Norwood Williams observed, “Everyone works like a team. You have a crew that comes in and moves furniture and sets up tables; you have the cleaning staff, the storeroom person, the chefs, the flower shop; even the carpenter’s shop—they had to make some of those tables. You know how everyone pitches in at a circus? That’s the way it’s done!”

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White House Historical Association

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