Kate Andersen Brower - Exploring the White House

To my parents,

Christopher and Valerie Andersen,

who showed me the world

Living in the White House is like being on the stage, where tragedies and comedies play alternately. And we, the servants of the White House, are the supporting cast.

LILLIAN ROGERS PARKS , White House maid and seamstress from 1929 to 1961

C an you imagine what it would be like to live in the White House? The fifty-five-thousand-square-foot building located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of Washington, D.C., is the countrys most famous house. It has been home to forty-three presidents. Only George Washington missed out on living there, because it hadnt been built yet, and Grover Cleveland was the only president to leave and return for a second term four years later. So he was lucky that he got to live in the White House twice!

In 1800, President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams moved in. Since then, dozens of children have lived in the White House, and one baby was born there. (Esther Cleveland was born to President Cleveland and his wife, Frances, in 1893.)

It may seem glamorous, but its not always easy to live in the public eye. Luci Baines Johnson, a daughter of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was president in the 1960s, called the White House a public fishbowl because she had almost no privacy and she felt like people could look in at her every move.

The White House is home to just one famous family at a time. The building is the countrys most powerful and longest-lasting symbol of the presidency. The nation knows the residents of the White Housethe first familybut few know about the dozens of people who work behind the scenes to keep the presidents house running. The Residence staff rarely get any attentionin fact, most people have no idea they existand thats exactly how they like it.

The members of the buildings supporting cast are its permanent employees: the approximately one hundred Residence workers who stay on from one administration to the next, regardless of political party. These are chefs, florists, ushers, housekeepers, butlers, engineers, painters, and more who work to make the White House comfortable for the first family.

They work long hours. They often sacrifice their personal lives to serve the first family with quiet, awe-inspiring dignity. They do not care if they are working for a Republican president or a Democrat; they treat every first family the same. Its not just a jobits a calling, and many consider it an honor to serve.

I have been interested in the White House and the people who work and live there since I became a reporter for Bloomberg News during President Barack Obamas first four years in office. In my job as a reporterwhich was very exciting!I went on trips with the president and the first lady and traveled on the presidents plane, which is called Air Force One (technically any plane the president is on should be called Air Force One, but really there are only two planes high-tech enough for the job. There are two planes so that one is always ready whenever the president needs iteven at the last minute.). When reporters travel with the president, they often become so distracted with the stories they are working on that they forget how historic it is to be sitting on that famous plane.

I can remember first hearing the giggles in the press cabin onboard the blue-and-white Boeing 747-200B as about twenty of my fellow reporters and I caught a glimpse of the Obamas fluffy and playful Portuguese water dog running down the aisle from the front of the plane. The dogs name is Bo, and at the time he was just three years old and having fun on the countrys most historic airplane. We all looked up from our laptops and our phones for a few wonderful minutes and took in the scene as a White House Residence staffer desperately tried to summon the rascally Bohis white paws bounding up and down the aisle and his tongue and tail wagging happilyback to the front of the plane where his family was waiting for him. The Obamas were traveling to Marthas Vineyard for summer vacation and they brought their dog along for the ride. It was one of the rare moments when I caught a glimpse of the people who serve the first family but are rarely ever seen. It also reminded me that the president and his family are just like the rest of usthey like having their dog around to play with too, and sometimes their pets dont follow the rules either!

No matter what job you have someday, always be sure to take the time to look around you and soak in the special parts of it. In 2011, I was invited to a luncheon with First Lady Michelle Obama, along with about a dozen other reporters who covered the first lady. I was nervous, and excited! Lunch was served in the small and cozy Old Family Dining Room (it would be a huge room in any normal-size house, but everything in the White House is built on a grand scale, and this is one of the smaller rooms). It is also a private room tucked away from public view. I had never seen this private side of the White House. I didnt even know the room existed!

An elegantly dressed gentleman offered us champagne on a gleaming silver tray and Michelle Obama called him by his first name. The menu included salad with vegetables from the White House gardenwhich the first lady had createdand fresh pan-roasted fish elegantly presented on the Truman china. (Its called the Truman china because the pattern for the dinnerware was picked out by President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess. In modern times most administrations choose their own china.) Each course was served by the butler, who clearly had a wonderful relationship with the first lady.

This is all very elegant, like being an English princess, I thought.

This experience, coupled with watching the aide try to convince Bo to head back to his seat on Air Force One, left me wonderingwho were these people, so close to the worlds most powerful family? So I made it a mission to find out who they were. Many people told me it would be impossible to get them to talk about their experiences, but they were wrong. Never let someone tell you that something cant be done! In my research, I interviewed dozens of current and former Residence staff who have devoted themselves to caring for the first families. They are the housekeepers and butlers, the chefs, florists, plumbers, and painters who are all incredibly proud of their work and who stay in their jobs for decades, serving the institution of the American presidency and not one particular president. They are not Democrats or Republicans, they told methey are Americans. This is an important and often ignored part of our incredible democracy and Im excited for you to meet these loyal and hardworking people. Each staffer who has served at the White House has seen history, and each has incredible stories to tell. This book shares what they have taught me about the traditions and rituals of the White House, as well as some of what they have witnessed behind the scenes.