The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House

The White House employs roughly 100 residence workers, including butlers, maids, chefs, ushers, florists, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, who care for America's first families while remaining deliberately invisible to the public. In The Residence, journalist Kate Andersen Brower draws on extensive interviews with current and retired staffers and members of first families to reveal the private world behind the most famous address in the country. Organized thematically, the book weaves together anecdotes from the Kennedys through the Obamas to illuminate the staff's fierce loyalty, personal sacrifice, and proximity to power.

Brower opens with Preston Bruce, the White House doorman from 1953 to 1977, who raced to the mansion after learning of President John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. A descendant of enslaved people and the son of a South Carolina sharecropper, Bruce had become an honorary member of the Kennedy family. He waited through the night until First Lady Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy returned at 4:00 A.M. in her bloodstained pink suit and shared a grief-stricken elevator ride with the president's brother, Robert Kennedy. Bruce refused to leave for four days, exemplifying the code governing every residence worker: The first family's needs come before everything else.

The book explores the logistically complex process of presidential transitions. On Inauguration Day, the staff has six hours to move one family out and another in without outside help, replacing furnishings and unpacking belongings. The Obamas' 2009 arrival proved challenging because Barack Obama, who rose to prominence in 2004 as an Illinois state senator, had no prior experience with household staff. Stephen Rochon, the first African American to serve as chief usher, the manager of all residence departments, sensed the Obamas were uncomfortable being waited on. The Clintons' 1993 move-in was chaotic, complicated by an ambitious redecoration plan and friends from Arkansas who failed background checks. The most painful transition followed Kennedy's assassination, when the staff simultaneously comforted the devastated Kennedy household and welcomed the Johnson family. Jackie Kennedy left a note for incoming First Lady Lady Bird Johnson: "I wish you a happy arrival in your new house, Lady Bird. Remember, you will be happy here."

Brower examines the culture of secrecy that defines the residence staff. Ron Reagan, the president's son, recalls a heated family discussion about the Iran-Contra affair, which involved secret arms sales to Iran and covert funding of Nicaraguan rebels. He was amazed that his parents showed no concern about a butler standing nearby. Butler James Ramsey, who grew up in tobacco fields in North Carolina, served six presidents over 30 years without revealing private details. Wilson Jerman, a butler who started as a houseman in 1957, told people he worked at "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" when asked about his job, knowing most would not recognize the address. When President Reagan informed Jerman the U.S. was about to bomb Libya, Jerman simply asked what time the president would like dinner. The Clintons proved the most guarded first family, changing the phone system to prevent operators from listening in.

The book details the extraordinary demands presidents placed on the staff. President Lyndon Johnson's obsessive fixation on his White House shower consumed Plumbing Foreman Reds Arrington: The president wanted water pressure equivalent to a fire hose. Five replacement showers were installed at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars from classified funds, and Arrington experienced a mental health crisis. First Lady Nancy Reagan's exacting standards pushed Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier to the brink. Before a 1982 state dinner for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, she rejected three dessert options and ordered him to create 15 sugar baskets in two days and two nights, silencing her husband when he tried to intervene. Executive Housekeeper Christine Limerick temporarily left her position in 1986 partly because of Mrs. Reagan's verbal abuse.

The staff witnessed presidential crises from an intimate vantage point. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, a residence worker found blood on the bed shared by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. The president claimed he ran into a bathroom door, but workers suspected Hillary had thrown a book at him. Usher Worthington White cleared the pool area so Hillary could sit alone; when she left, she squeezed White's hands and said, "Thank you." During the Watergate scandal, which involved the Nixon administration's cover-up of political espionage, Doorman Bruce watched President Richard Nixon deteriorate day by day. On the night of Nixon's resignation, Electrician Bill Cliber walked with the president to the residence and told him he should feel proud. Nixon replied with glassy eyes that he wished more people felt that way.

The personal costs of White House service were severe. Usher Nelson Pierce's wife, Caroline, raised their four children virtually alone during his 26-year career. Many butlers divorced because of unpredictable hours. Doorman Frederick "Freddie" Mayfield postponed urgently needed bypass surgery because of upcoming presidential trips and died of a heart attack at 58 on his way to work. Mesnier turned down jobs paying several times his salary, missing countless family events over 27 years. Yet the camaraderie among workers provided its own reward: When a colleague faced a death or medical crisis, staff pooled money in a jar in the Butler's Pantry.

Brower traces the complex history of race at the White House. African Americans, both free and enslaved, helped build the mansion beginning in 1792. Pierce noticed upon joining the staff in 1961 that African American workers were generally paid significantly less than white colleagues. During the Johnson administration, Storeroom Manager Bill Hamilton led a small revolt, refusing to work a state dinner until African American staff received raises. Zephyr Wright, the Johnsons' family cook, traveled through the segregated South with Lady Bird Johnson and was turned away from hotels because she was African American; the experience informed Johnson's push for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Barack Obama's election inspired what Rochon describes as a "sense of pride" among the largely African American staff.

Brower also captures lighter moments, from Maid Ivaniz Silva accidentally walking in on a naked President Reagan reading newspapers to Jackie Kennedy enlisting Chief Usher J. B. West in an elaborate ruse to avoid hosting an overnight guest. Presidential children brought their own energy: Sasha and Malia Obama, ages 7 and 10, filled the Solarium with air mattresses from sleepovers, and Chelsea Clinton took cooking lessons from the executive chef to prepare for college.

The book's most dramatic passages cover two national tragedies. After Kennedy's assassination, Pierce ordered the flag lowered, and staff draped the East Room in black fabric for a funeral modeled on Lincoln's. On September 11, 2001, the staff was preparing a congressional barbecue for 1,500 guests when the attacks occurred. Chief Usher Gary Walters saw smoke from the Pentagon from the South Portico and realized the White House could be next. Workers evacuated amid confusion. Walters, Chef Walter Scheib, and Cliber stayed behind to clear picnic tables and prepare a helicopter landing zone, then served over 500 meals to emergency personnel. Despite months of lingering fear, not a single residence worker quit.

Brower closes with the passing of several workers she interviewed, including Ramsey, who died of colon cancer in February 2014. Former First Lady Laura Bush spoke at his funeral, and letters from Presidents Obama and Clinton were read at the service. Brower concludes that these workers, who practice their own brand of diplomacy with qualities of loyalty and discretion that cannot be taught, deserve recognition as essential participants in American democracy.