Welcome to "Likely Stories." I'm Diane Kemper.
Chief Usher JB West directed the operations and maintenance, and coordinated daily life for the First Families in the White House. For 28 years he served and grew to know personally the Roosevelts, Trumans, Eisenhowers, Kennedys, Johnsons, and Nixons. He planned parties often at a moment's notice, directed state functions, planned weddings, funerals, gardens, of the playgrounds, and an extensive renovation of the White House when it nearly came crashing down on the Truman family.
This is not a book about politics. This is a book about the families who served our country, and the the staff who served them. Focusing on the First Ladies, we are privy to hectic schedules, private conversations, growing friendships, triumphs, and the very greatest of heartaches.
When a First Family moves in, the living quarters of the White House are to become their home. This means they are to be redecorated in the taste and style of that family - what furniture they want, draperies, wall color, art, rugs, and all the details we would have when we would move into a new home. It's just that this home is currently 224 years old and the workplace of the president of the United States.
Along with a change in the decor comes a change in style of the First Ladies. The staff has to quickly adapt to the likes and dislikes of each woman.
Elenor Roosevelt never walked, she ran. She was constantly writing notes to herself, the staff, and her husband on any little scrap of paper she could find, mapping out her political strategies and national projects. It only took one truck to move the Trumans from their three bedroom apartment to the White House. All they brought were their clothes and their daughter's piano. Mamie Eisenhower had her own dressing room that was fully pink and fully frilly. The staff met with her each morning as she started the schedule for the day by still being in bed in her dressing gown. She had so many clothes they had to store them in closets all over the White House.
Jackie Kennedy was casual and friendly with all the staff. They rarely saw her in anything but pants unless it was a White House occasion. Lady Bird Johnson, a true Texan, had a love of French furniture. She announced she had been running her household for thirty years, and was ready for Mr. West to run it for her. Pat Nixon wanted cottage cheese, the one thing they didn't have on hand for the first night the Nixons were in the White House. The head butler was sent in a White House limousine searching for cottage cheese. Some was found at a delicatessen, and from then on it was always available for the First Lady.
"Upstairs at the White House" by Chief Usher JB West is filled with rich anecdotes of what goes on behind closed doors while democracy races forward. You will want to read this book!
