Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies

“[W]e never saw Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt in the same room alone together. They had the most separate relationship I have ever seen between man and wife. And the most equal.”

During the Roosevelt administration, Eleanor pursued several of her own projects and invited her own people to the White House. While she and the president did not spend personal time together by this point, she conferred with him and reported back to him about public opinion. After his death, she requested time alone with his body.

“But now, after months of observation, I realized that her life was filled with planned, purposeful activity, her motion directed toward specific goals. She was propelled by dedication.”

West is impressed with Eleanor Roosevelt’s drive and many accomplishments. At first, he thought that she was in perpetual motion, changing plans and bouncing from one project to another. Later, he came to appreciate her commitment to progressive change. This illustrates the book’s theme of The Contribution of First Ladies to the Presidency.

“Mr. Churchill was in and out of the White House secretly several times during the war. […] Many times the public had no idea he was in Washington.”

The White House staff, who waited on Churchill, kept silent about his visits. In exposing The Importance Role of Behind-the-Scenes Workers at the White House, West highlights happenings about which the public was unaware. Churchill made quite an impression on the staff for his unusual tendencies, such as his habit of once remaining nude in his room when the president called upon him. The president quickly left and waited for him to dress.

“The secret was loyalty to the White House and the Presidency, rather than to whoever happens to be occupying the office for four years, or eight.”

West explains how loyalty is how the ushers and White House staff hold onto their jobs. They must be willing to adjust to the current first family. Those who hold lingering attachments to the previous occupants are found out by the new occupants and let go because keeping them would impede the smooth flow of operations.

“At nine o’clock, Mr. Truman picked up his briefcase, took Mrs. Truman by the arm, went into his study, and closed the door. They worked together until eleven o’clock almost every night, editing his speeches, discussing his policies, designing his politics.”

Highlighting The Contribution of First Ladies to the Presidency, West notes how Bess Truman advised the president nightly. They were partners, though her role was never revealed to the public. Bess was committed to her husband and a highly intelligent woman.

“His staff always referred to Harry Truman as ‘The Boss.’ The President referred to his wife as ‘The Boss.’ Privately, she affected the role, and the President loved it.”

Although this term was coined in jest and was an affectionate nickname, the president listened to his wife and took her counsel seriously. She advised him daily on political matters. In their private lives, the couple was in love and enjoyed spending time together, a marked contrast to the Roosevelts.

“The White House, which had been under ‘improvement’ with modern conveniences for almost 150 years, had chosen to collapse during the Truman administration.”

After noticing a chandelier almost fall because someone had walked on the floor above it, the Truman administration ordered an inspection of the White House. The structure was in such bad shape that its demolition was an option. Truman instead persuaded Congress to have the structure gutted on the inside only. While the major renovations were ongoing, the Trumans did not live in the White House. The ushers and staff accommodated their needs at Blair House, usually the home of the vice president.

“Pedestrians could no longer stroll on the sidewalks in front of Blair House. We began to know the feeling of life behind a barricade, a feeling that never again left us.”

Following an assassination attempt on President Truman, security around the president grew tighter. Prior to this time, first ladies could go for walks by themselves, and there was much more freedom of movement for presidents. The increasing security contributed to a sense of isolation among presidents.

“Mamie Eisenhower as a hostess was spectacular. […] She and the General applied more spit-and-polish, more pomp and circumstance, to their lavish, formal entertaining than any other President and First Lady in my White House existence.”

Each first lady brought her own talents to the position. Excessively feminine and with an eye for attention, Mamie Eisenhower had the White House decorated to perfection. Accustomed to military rituals, the couple enjoyed formal entertainment and a social hierarchy. They also sat at the head of the table, like royalty.

“She never treated the mansion as government property, it was hers. And she took such fastidious care of it that we almost believed it was hers.”

Very much a general’s wife, Mamie took command of domestic affairs in the White House and ensured that the rooms were in top shape. She did not tolerate footprints on the rugs, for example. Making it her mission to improve the presentation of the White House, she additionally added her personal touches, such as a preponderance of pink.

“All the White House was invited—carpenters, painters, plumbers, everybody, and their spouses. It was the first time a President had ever entertained like that for all of us.”

When the remodel of the Eisenhowers’ Gettysburg home was completed, the first couple threw a party for all the White House workers who helped with it. West highlights the gratitude of the first couple and Mamie’s interest in the workers here. While the Eisenhowers paid for all the materials and the expenses of the workers in the remodel of their private home, their salaries came from the government: They served where the president wanted them.

“Regal, sentimental Mamie Eisenhower was the last First Lady born in the nineteenth century. She was the first to leave the White House in the Space Age.”

West draws attention to the many changes that came to the presidency and Washington during the Eisenhower administration. Air conditioning made Washington a year-round city, as the elite previously used to flee the city in the summer. Television, which both Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower enjoyed, changed the nature of politics, as did jet travel. Mamie represented old-world charm as these changes took effect.

“I would find myself dealing with Empire tables and rabbit cages; housing Maharajahs and ponies; steaming down the Potomac and wearing disguises; and thoroughly enjoying the most creative and challenging work to which the Chief Usher had ever been put.”

Previewing his years during the Kennedy administration, West highlights the challenges that Jackie Kennedy’s requests posed. Yet he also indicates how much he enjoyed working with her. Appreciating her efforts to transform the White House into a museum, West went to great lengths to accommodate her, and he became her lifelong friend.

“Inauguration Day is easily the busiest day of the year for the entire Executive Mansion staff. While the changing-of-the-guard takes place officially a mile away at the Capitol steps, it happens physically at the White House.”

Highlighting The Important Role of Behind-the-Scenes Workers, West explains the pressure to pack up one family’s belongings and unpack another’s in a few hours. All the while, the White House must be prepared to receive important guests there for the inauguration and hosting events. Everyone from carpenters to cooks is put to work for the moving.

“Jacqueline Kennedy accomplished an astounding amount of work during her husband’s short administration. And she drew amazing work out of the White House staff and her personal staff.”

Impressed with Jackie Kennedy’s organizational and creative skills, West explains how she financed and managed a major restoration project that transformed the White House into a museum. Coming from wealth, she had a knack for managing servants while quickly determining people’s skills and putting those skills to good use.

“Many times, when I watched her play with them, exactly as a child plays, I felt, strangely, that this was the real Jacqueline Kennedy. […] Many times, when she was performing with such grace and authority the role of First Lady, I felt she was just pretending.”

West describes Jackie Kennedy’s public persona, which was formal and aloof, as very distinct from her private persona, which was casual and witty. She did not let anyone get too close to her, however. When she was at play with her children, West discerned the authentic Jackie.

“With priceless art and antiques filling the State rooms and living quarters, the White House was fast becoming a full-fledged museum.”

With approval, West notes the transformation of the White House from Jackie Kennedy’s restoration project, noting The Contribution of First Ladies to the Presidency. Jackie worked tirelessly to tell the White House history to the American people.

“‘Mr. West, will you be my friend for life?’ she whispered. I could not make a sound. I only nodded.”

When she returned to the White House following her husband’s death, Jackie asked this question of West. It is a testament to the working bond that the two developed. West worked diligently to help with the restoration and to accommodate all of Jackie’s requests, which were many. He took to carrying a yellow pad around with him because she could pop up anywhere with requests.

“But always, she seemed to have a cellophane shield around her, through which she appeared, highly visible, dignified, yet somehow protected. And I did not run the White House, Lady Bird Johnson did—and in a way no other First Lady had done.”

Although Lady Bird Johnson claimed not to have an interest in running the White House, she did so. She delegated the work to her social secretary and West, but she acted as the chair of the board, with final say over important matters. During the Johnson administration, the role of the social secretary greatly expanded.

“Despite all the Johnsons did to be hospitable, though, the President never felt the isolation that surrounds the Presidency so strongly as he did with his old compatriots in the Senate.”

No one in Washington, DC, shares the president’s perspective, a fact that leads to isolation and impacts the life of the first family. Having been a leader in the Senate, Johnson felt the sting of rejection and criticism from members of Congress deeply. His war policies had made him a pariah in liberal circles toward the end of his presidency.

“She did for Mrs. Johnson what Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy had done for themselves.”

Speaking about Bess Abell, Mrs. Johnson’s social secretary, West points to the change in the first lady’s role. The social secretary became a full-time position and beyond, with Abell responsible for the planning of dinners and entertainment subject to the first lady’s review only. The importance of the role of first lady is evident in its institutionalization.

“I have seldom seen the fortunes of the Presidency change so rapidly in a brief five years—from the courage with which he took office and rallied the country, to his landslide election and historic domestic legislation, to the quagmire war and a bitterly divided America.”

Commenting on Johnson’s years in office, West chronicles the president’s rise and fall in public opinion. He did not seek re-election in 1968 and spent the last months of the presidency inviting friends from Texas to the White House. Although all first ladies hate to leave the White House, West states that the Johnsons left with dignity.

“I miss that swimming pool, which President Nixon tore out to make way for the Fourth Estate. Congress should have let President Truman make that addition onto the west wing—so there’d be room for the press over there.”

For the first time, West shows a lingering attachment to what was in the White House. He watched presidents from Roosevelt through Johnson and their families enjoy that pool. Of course, he did not let his feelings be known to the new president. That the pool was sacrificed to accommodate the press is a precursor of the role the media has come to play in delivering the news and sometimes shaping perceptions.