Oh! Mr President, please put your clothes back on
How a naked Ronald Reagan shocked the servants — and other intimate surprises from inside the White House
For Americans, the White House is as iconic and royal a palace as you can get. For non- Americans, it is a respected power symbol, but not one to be especially loved. Kate Brower, an American journalist assigned to cover the obama White House, became intrigued by the workings of the mansion after watching Downton Abbey.
She set about interviewing the staff, who number at l east 100, to build up a comparable picture of the American version of Upstairs, Downstairs.
The staff all live out in Washington and commute in. The hours are long. Those on duty cannot go home until t he President retires and goes to bed. So they see l i ttle of their families and are often divorced as a result.
The pay is not great, but the job is prestigious and passed by personal recommendation among friends. Most of them have stayed there for 20 years or more.
The West Wing is the President’s office quarters; the East Wing belongs to the First Lady and her office staff.
‘The residence’, as the living quarters are called, really begins on the second floor and is kept hidden from the hundreds of tourists who parade through the state rooms every afternoon.
Keeping t he organisation r unning smoothly, from the workshops in the basement to the snipers on the roof, is a complex operation. It costs money — $13 million a year from government funds, plus a hefty contribution from the First Family itself.
Presidents and their wives have to pay for their own food and drink and that of their personal guests. They are also charged for dry-cleaning. Even well-heeled First Ladies are always appealing to keep the bills down, especially in the kitchens where top chefs are above such considerations as cost.
Jackie Kennedy was heard to complain: ‘We haven’t nearly as much money as you read in the papers’; while the Carters even asked the kitchen to serve them leftovers for their personal meals.
THE White House i s never untenanted. The changeover of President takes place at 12 noon on Inauguration Day. Between then and 5pm, the entire moving out and in of the two families and their respective belongings has to be completed.
The staff include ushers, chefs, maids, doormen, engineers, plumbers, full-time florists (the flower bill is enormous), even calligraphers who are kept busy writing invitations in fine script.
But the glory of the place is its corps of butlers — six of them full-time, plus dozens more called in for big receptions, parties and dinners.
Most, by tradition, are black. There is a picture of ten of them taking a break between courses in their black ties. What is the collective noun for such a fine body of men? A bevy of butlers?
The Kennedys and the Clintons liked staying up late and entertaining until 2am, which meant that those on duty didn’t get home until much later than that. This didn’t go down well.
oddly enough, the best-liked couple were the older Bushes — George H. W. and his wife, Barbara, who were used to having plenty of servants and were relaxed and genuinely concerned about them.
The black staff, especially the elderly butlers who remembered segregation, are especially proud to serve the obamas as the first black presidential family.
one found obama and his wife, Michelle, celebrating gaining The White House on their first night there with an impromptu dance to a record by Mary J. Blige. And yet the obamas have turned out to be rather reserved and distant with t he staff — even, says one, ‘stand-offish’.
ronald reagan, on the other hand, was over-chummy, so eager to talk to them that servants actually tried to dodge him in order not to get caught for hours.
He had a disconcerting habit of sitting around naked reading the newspapers. His wife, Nancy, by contrast, was a martinet who collected Limoges china. Woe betide anyone who broke a piece. She would call a servant to say that the lights needed turning on when the switch was within easy reach.
When she was going to be difficult about the meal service, which was frequently, she would send for the chef, cock her head on one side and smile — and then find fault, usually with the desserts served by chef roland Mesnier.
once, she decided at the last moment that the dessert for a state dinner should be sugar baskets each containing three sugar tulips. Chef roland objected: ‘ But there are only two days left until the dinner!’ She cocked her head: ‘roland, you have two days and two nights before the dinner.’
richard Nixon installed a bowling alley in the basement. He used to wander into the kitchens for a chat and discovered a washer-up who was also a keen bowler. They went on playing until 2am. Nixon then wrote a note to the man’s wife to explain why he was so late home.
The Carters made news by appointing a convicted murderess as nanny to their daughter, Amy. rosalynn Carter was convinced she was innocent, and the first family’s confidence was justified when the verdict was reversed.
Unlike some presidential couples, the Clintons used to share a bedroom — until the Lewinsky scandal reached its height in 1998. For three or four months, Hillary made Bill sleep on a sofa in a study attached to the bedroom. Most women on the staff thought he’d got what he deserved.
The feuding Clintons were the talk of the staff, who overheard their bad language and the sound of objects being thrown in bedrooms. Hillary’s voice screaming ‘Goddam bastard!’ was followed by a heavy thud.
MUCH bl ood was discovered all over the bed. No one believed that her husband, who needed several stitches, had walked i nto a bathroom door in the dark, as he explained.
‘We’re pretty sure she clocked him with a book,’ said one member of staff. There were certainly plenty to hand — there were at least 20 on the Clintons’ bedside tables, including the Bible.
But the biggest disturber of the peace was the huge bully from Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, who succeeded the assassinated J. F. Kennedy.
He gloried in his size (6 ft 3 in) and his achievements. He had TV sets installed everywhere and kept several on loudly as he watched himself in the newscasts.
He undressed in front of the staff and gave them instructions while sitting on the lavatory, whose seat had to be replaced with a bigger one when he broke it.
He drove the plumbers to nervous breakdowns over his shower. It was never hot enough nor strong enough for him. They replaced one after the other until the water came out as if from a fire hose and the heat generated set off the fire alarm.
one water jet had to be aimed precisely at his penis (which he called ‘Jumbo’) and another up his rear end. He raged at the plumbers until he got satisfaction.
Such was the man who escalated the Vietnam War.