For the media. By the time they sold it in the 80s, it was huge and provided the family with substantial earnings. Then mrs. Johnson took some of the funds, investments, and she invested it into large ranching operations. She alsoarly managed those. She was an early civil rights advocate. She was so strongly inigne supp of the civil right act, that she was there when lbj signed that bill. She was the only woman in the room in 1964 when he signed gly that. She also was very strongly interested in an advocate of women seeking higher education. Most known for the Beautification Programs. The Beautification Program ssin wasnt justg. Planting flowers. The Beautification Program was very encompassing. Care of urban life, cleaning up the highways. L there were environmental ark elements. There were pollution control elements. There was National Park conservation elements to what she did. Part of the Beautification Program was, first of all, the committee for a more beautiful capital. They started in washington, d. Cl they started with cleaning up the urban areas and cleaning upn around the a National Mall and making it a nicer place for lt c people to visit. Then there was the highway beautification act, which was w very difficult. Part of that was to get rid of billboards along the highways. Ts there were organizations that e were very strongly in support of those billboards. She really had a fight on her re hands. Then she took discover america , trips to the National Parks to raise awareness of National Parks, and to help clean them uo and get visitors to go to the National Parks. She also was involved in project head start. That was part of lbjs war on poverty. It wasgi programs to help preschool, underprivileged with children. Tools they would ery su need to be prepared to go to school with their peers. Hono this was a veryra successful program. She was approached to be an honorary chair of the program. She said, i will work on head start, but i dont want to just be an honorary chair. I want to actually work on it. Very successful program, like i mentioned. It justh celebrated its 40th yr in business, or since it was established, in 2005. In 1964, Lady Bird Johnson went on the first solo organized Campaign Trip by a first lady. She went on what they call the lady bird special. It was a very, very organized train trip that took four days,n went through 40 southern states. They had all kinds of Different Things printed up, as you can see here. Postcards, whistles, matches, banners, menus at the different stops. Well hats. She wasnt always well receivedc again, shest. Doing this train trip through the southern stater who are not happy about the civil rights act. And she wants to get support for lbj so he can be reelected. Toa some of the stops shes may booed and heckled and quoted ath one stop saying now youve had your say, may i have mine and d. Because of her warmth she was able to win over a lot of people to herself and to her husband. Nw when the train trip ended in new orleans, lbj joined her and gave her a lot of credit for helping him win those very difficult southern states. And then we have pat nixon. Pat nixon is one of the first ladies that weve talked about,m probably the first lady born into the poorest circumstances. Born in eli, nevada, which is nowheres ville in nevada. Her father had numerous different occupations. He sailer, miner, farmhand, truck driver. He died when pat was 18. Sher mom died when she was 14. She had a high school education. Her parents had already died. But what she did was she worked her way through school. And she went to junior college. R she went to usc and eventually got a bachelor degree in equiv merchandising and got a certificate which was the equivalent of a masters degree at usc to teach high school. And so she is actually the first, first lady to have a e h graduate degree. She married Richard Nixon at age 28. And like i mentioned, she had a wide variety of jobs. Pat nixon would do anything to earn the money to pay her way it through college. She was a janitor. She helped the family at farming beforewas her parents died. She was a bookkeeper. She was an xray technician, a r harmacy manager and then eventually a High School Business teacher. And then she continued to work after her marriage. She had two daughters. She was 56 years old when she became first lady and she was first lady for about 5 1 2 years. Sheld died at age 81 and shes buried aat at the Nixon Memorial Library in yorba lindad pat nixon, very unappreciated. Was the most traveled first lady up until hillary clinton. She visited over 80 countries. Go and when she went on these trips, she wasnt content to just go to receptions and tease, she would do those things, but o she also wanted to meet the people. She wanted to go school. She wanted to go hospitals. He she wanted to go to orphanages, she wanted to talk to the people in the outlying villages, oneonone and meet them and find out what their concerns were. She co she was at ease no matter what the agenda was. She could discuss human rights issues in south africa. She actually recommended to ugoa yugoslaviovi officials that the parliament could use more women members. It wasnt fluff. She was there to work and she did work. She took a goodwill trip to vietnam in july of 1969. And that made her the second first lady only the second first lady to enter a combat zone. The first was eleanor rose develop. There in vietnam. T person again she visited hospitals, orphanages, military hospitals and later on she sent personal letters to the families of each one of the injured soldiers that she talked to and met. When peru was hit by the devastating earthquake in 1970, within one week pat nixon was on her way to peru with 9 tons of food and supplies that were privately donated. Lady she went into the worst areas e with the disaster with the peru first lady. They spent an entire day walking through the rubble and climbingr through the rubble and talking to the citizens there and listening to what their problems and what their concerns were. Months later, the president of peru was thanking all countries for their help. King but he singled out pat nixon for coming to peru and thanking her genuinely for her help with this terrible ordeal. Later he awarded her the grand t cross of the order of sun, the oldest deckeration in declaration in the americas. Over pat h nixon was a tireless campaigner. Richard nixon had Many Campaign over his years in politics. She was happy to do it. In she likes being on the campaign trail when he ran for president against jfk in 1960, there was an entire ad campaign that was based on the slogan of pat for r first lady. And so there were buttons and there were car antennas and manicure kits and there were all of these things that were handed out. Pat nixon spoke at the 1972 Republican Convention and made her the first republican first lady to speak at a Convention Ad for her husband. Uch ab but pat had other interests and causes. And you dont really hear much about this. Ome more she publicly advocated that he women should become more first involved in the political process. She was the first incumbent first lady to endorse the civil rights amendment. She was the first incumbent first lady to disclose purposely her prochoice view. Court ev and she publicly called for the appointment of a woman on the. Even before she started lobbying her husband too do so. Break in conclusion, first ladies thr continue to break barriers. They continue to forth new notg roles. They do it in their own way. Get and there is nothing wrong with that. They can use their special voice to get messages out to draw attention to causes. Rose lynn carter once said that she felt that she was in a special position and that it was her duty to use that role to promote causes. Thank you. [ applause ] with the senate in the august break, well feature become tv programming weeknights in prime time on cspan 2 starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. And for the weekends here are a few book tv special programs. On saturday, were live from jackson, mississippi, for the mississippi book festival beginning at 11 30 with decisions on harper lee and the civil war. On saturday, september 5th live from the capital for the 15th annual National Book festival and then former second lady and senior fellow lynne cheney. Book tv on cspan 2. Television for serious readers. More American History tv from marion, ohio. Speakers examine the style and approaches of first ladies from Florence Harding to michelle obama. This was the theme of the annuae warn g. Harding symposium at the Ohio State University at marion. Gary thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Im well and how about you. [ laughter ]e the white house that i served for 37 years is a unique part of our 239 years of american fa history. I was honored and privileged to serve seven president s and firsd families from 1970 through 2007. The president ial history that i have seen is remarkable. A president resigned from side office. And appointed Vice President become an unelected president , e oneterm president who became. More prominent for his activities after he left the white house. A twoterm president who faced down the evil empire. A president who won awar and ino lost his reelection bid. A president impeached and remain in office. And one of the most closely contested president ial elections in our nations history, that permitted me to serve the son of a president that i had previously served. The chief usher is appointed by and works directly for the ho president of the United States and is head of the staff of the executive residence at the white house. I was accountable to the president and the first lady, for the activities that took place in the white house and on its grounds. E my primary charge was to carry out their desires as they relats to three main functions. First and foremost, the executive residence is the homew of the president and his familyt and as such is a place where their privacy is guarded with vigor by those who work there. Rc second, it is the site of th in officialth and ceremonial activities of the presidency, both in the house and on its grounds. And finally, the residence, the grounds, are a museum of our American History. For those of you who may not have had an opportunity to visit the white house, this historical site, this is a place that is visited by over 1 million visitors each year. And this is a cutaway of the und normal tour route where the visitors come in on the ground floor, through the east wing, go through a number of rooms on thr ground floor and then go up thes stairs to the state floor or first floor of the white house. They go through the east room, o the three parlors, the state dining room and then exit through the north portico. I was responsible for administering the executive residence of the white house and directing the 92 members of the resident staff. The staff is comprised of the e administrative ushers office, the curators office, which takes care of the extensive furnishings of a historic nature and all of the furnishings and e paintings of the white house. Pu it also is responsible for the Calligraphy Office which produces the handwritten invitations to white house throg events. The florist shop that provides cut flower arrangements throughout the residence and foe all events. The housekeeping staff. Che the food and beverage preparation and Service Staff which included the executive chn chef, a pastry chef, three assistantan chefs and their kitchen stewards as well as the mater deand six butlers. And without leaving them out, do certainly the maintenance staffu the white house is the consum e consumate, this old house. It includes carpenters, electricians, engineers, furniture handlers and painters an plumbers. The chief usher already supervises the National Park Service Staff of 24 gardners that take care of the 18 acres of grounds and gardens. My staff and i also administered and developed and tracked the expenses for all of these activities. The chief usher establishes the yearly budget for the executiven residence and insi recent year has been approximately g to t 12 million. Presid i was also responsible for y tracking, billing and presentino to the president re and the firs lady, more recently it was the f first lady, each month the billd their food, beverage, drycleaning and personal itemsl used by the family and their eae personal guests. Most people do not realize that the president pays for these expenses out of his own pocket. For your General Information ill give you a brief history oe the white house itself. With the exception of our first president george washington, every president has lived in the house. But please washington was instrumental in the planning for the house. 500 fo on march 14th, 1792, a competition was announced offering a premium of 500 for w medal of a metal of equal s s value to the winning award design for the white house or as it was known then as the president s house. The winner was to be chosen by s george washington. The designs were to be submitted in just four short months. Excuse me. James hobband won the competition on july 16th, 1792, and this design is his presentation and he was also. Hired to supervise the construction of the house. The cornerstone of the white house was laid just three monthl later, on october 13th, 1792. Now for those ofy, you who thinc your forward government cant ea react quickly,sh there is an example that at least it could. President washington died on rsr december 14th, 1799, before the house was completed. D and our first president , john adams, moved into the unfinished house on november 1st, 1800. During the war of 1812, following the british defeat of napoleon in 1814, british troops entered the city of washington on the evening of august 14, caa 1814, burning the public buildings. As they moved through the capital, from the capitol to the white house. After looting thed ex house, th british troops were stationed around the exterior of the home, and at the shot of a single pistol, they were told to throw lighted torched through all of the windows. The furniture had been piled in the center of each of the rooms to ensure a good fire. The interior of the house burne. Rapidly and after a few hours, the fires kmumed everything inside consumed everything inside. But a thunderstorm arose and th cold watersa from the thunderstm put out the final flames and partially saved the exterior walls. The house was pretty much destroyed except some of the t exterior stone work. Gned the treaty of gent, ending the war, was signed on new o february 17th, rl1815. Following Andrew Jacksons victory over the british at the battle of new orleans. Ed to re in the joy of victory, the congress decided to rebuild the president s house and james hobban was hired to rebuild it. President monroe moved into the house in october of 1817. The next major renovation came in 1902. The congress a appropriated 500,000 for the house and the construction of an executive Office Building allowing for tha offices of or the the president to be moved outside of the house and into a separate building. That addition, known today os known then as the executive Office Building, today is known as the west wing. And as somebody asked earlier, no, that is not where the tv show was filmed. After the renovation, public tours were limited to the Entrance Hall and the adjacent n room. G it was president and mrs. Harding who almost immediately after taking office in march of or of 1921, opened the view of the other rooms on the state or first floor of the white house, including the green, blue and red parlors as well as the state dining room. The latest and most extensive renovation of the white house eo cameos during the administratio of president truman. After president roosevelts in 1945, president truman d became acutely aware of the problems with the house. And with the concurrence of the congress, initiated a commission to look into the structural ldi. Integrity of the residence. T, i it waswa determined that it need extensive rebuilding and in fact, as you heard earlier, it was suggested that the structure be torn down. Gov there was a movement to move the seat of the government to the center of the country, which at that time was ohio. President truman was adamant that the original stone walls be saved. A plan w was devised to retain e exterior stone walls and build a concrete and Steel Building , within. The old evid stone walls would be pinned to the new structure, hi therebyle retaining evidence of the original hobban design while providing some modern conveniences and adding two ir subfloors with utility and storage. While that was going on. The president and mrs. Truman moved to the blair house and lived there from 1948 until 1952. That is basically the history of the white house that we see a today. Now i will give you a view from behind the scenes of the of executive residence and a peek into the lives of thehave presis an the first families that i have served. I served the nixon , Un Administration as a member of the Uniformed Division of the secret service. Until the president s resignation on august 9th, 1974s during that time, i was assignen to various posts throughout the white house complex, getting tot know thehe people who worked the and their responsibilities. After the start of the litigation surrounding the watergate breakin and the revolution of the oval office tape system by alexander butterfield, i was one of six officers to have control over er the president ialet papers and tapes after the courts had appointed the secret service as conservators. Soft, kind and gentle, are not often words attached to president nixon. But his kindness was known to those who knew him well. One such individual was a white house doorman by the name of Freddy Mayfield. He worked the Evening Shift from 2 00 until 12 00 mid night and was an avid and suffering long fan of the senator baseball team. Eddy freddy and the president had frequent and long conversations about baseball each evening in the elevator as freddy moved the elevator from the ground floor n to the second floor when the president was going home for dinner. The president also being a greau fan loved their talks. After returning to the executive residence oneam spring afternoo following his trip to the opening day baseball game, the president got in the elevator, throwing his ball, his souvenir ball up and down, the first pitch baseball of the season. Oo freddy asked the president if he might take a look at it. Having become quite close to freddy andall bond of their baseball talks, the president tossed the ball to him and said freddy, you keep this. This will be a memory of our one baseballsi discussions. The on president nixons last day in office i was working in the vici Police Controlty center. The numbers of demonstrators and people in the vicinity of the white house were a constant for concern for the secret service r security and alseso for the senr white house staff. The president had been working r in hisos old executive Office Building office which was across the street from the west wing te and sometime in the early afternoon was preparing to return to the executive residence. Word was passed to us that the d president did noty on want to s anyone. On his last trip from the executive Office Building to th residence and that he was not even going to go through the west wing, which would be his ig normal route. We were directed to have the officer and the press in then presst Briefing Room which was adjacent to the president s path, draw the shades to the ou windowst completely shut and lk the one door that led out on to the driveway. At the prescribed time, the notice was given, the press corp was locked in the Briefing Room and the windows were covered. Since i was working in the Police Control center, immediately we began to receivec telephone calls from the the wa reporters, their Network Chiefs an the Fire Department complaining about the way the oi press were being treated and confined. Re fir thate it was unsafe and there were fire code violations. Within 15 minutes the president returned to the evidence, the d press room doors were unlocked an the shatds were urned to their the shades were returned to their open position and the crisis passed, as a note to history. Upon president nixons departure, the burden of the past few years was removed from the white house with the entry of the ford family. The president and mrs. Ford were two of the most approachable le people you could ever want to meet. In the fall of 1975 i was made aware of a position comingwo available in the ushers officef i had worked for years with the members of the office and was eo to then chief usher rex skelton. I was attracted immediately to the opportunity as i admired the work of the office and the wonderful people who worked in. The executive residence. I applied for the position and was chosen to work there. My first three months of service in the ushers office were spent as an understudy to the other two assistant ushers learning the ways of the first family ani theng s executive residence. The assistant ushers work on a rotating two shift schedule. , a one shift began before the president awoke in the morning with a transfer between shifts taking place at around 2 00 in the afternoon and ending after the president and first lady had retired for the evening. My first introduction to president ford was made by chief usher rex skelton. It took place at the conclusion of my first state dinner, or mr adjacent to the elevator that led to their private quarters. The president was standing and waiting for mrs. Ford who was bidding some of her guests good night. Mrs. Ford was a dancer. The we she was always the last one to leave the floor. Ed in the week following my introduction to the fords, i waa placed in the rotation by myself. At it was a quiet sunday morning. At about 8 00 a. M. , the telephone rang and i answered. The ushers office, gary walters, may i help you. The voice on the other end of the phone was that of president ford. I immediately thought i should stand up. But my knees hit the desk. , goom i listened intently as the president said, good morning, gary. Could you make a note to have someone check my shower. He fact i dont have any hot water. Well after i recovered from the fact that the president didnt have any hot water, i also a reelized that i had never been called by my first name by a wesident before. Knowing that the white house engineers were available to h check out the problem, and thatn the first family was scheduled to go to Church Within the hour, i reply the certainly, mr. President. I will have the engineers checkr the showerch as soon as you and. Mrs. Ford deport for church. The president s answer don absolutely stunned me. He said, oh, dont bother, its sunday and there is really no hurry. It has been that way for a couple of days and i just forgot to tell people. [ laughter ] any way, ive been usings bettys shower. Needle needless to say, as soon as they left for church, we fixed the problem. The residence staff becomes quite close to the first family over the years and that was certainly the case with the fords. One such example was occurred after the installation of the outdoor heated swimming pool. Ske each evening, doorman Freddy Mayfield would jokingly ask the president when he was going to w invite him for a swim. E president ford would laugh and say, oh, freddy, one of these days when we both have just a little bit more time. Late one afternoon, the telephone rang and president s voice said, gary, freddy has been asking about a swim with the president and i think this might be a good time. Would you ask him to meet me in the cabana in 15 minutes. Tell him not to worry about a swimming suit. Hi we can get one of the extras that we keep for friends. Peratu his voice was a bit light and w mischievous as the temperature that november evening was about 30 degrees. With a windchill factor in the teens. I informed freddy of the him president s invitation and added that he better watch to what he asked for in the future. Freddy did go over to the cabana where he and president had a nice swim, much shorter than the president s normal swim. Both returned to the residence laughing and dripping water in their wake. Freddy never forgot his ked president ial swim and told everyone about his experience. He also never asked the president about another joint i swim. Th later he confided in me that he nearly froze getting out of the pool. The inauguration of president jimmy carter on january 20th, 1977, brought three families to the white house. Not only did daughter amy, age seven, move in with the nd flo president and mrs. Carter and occupy traditional bedrooms on the second floor, they also had their two sons chip and jeff ano their wives karen and annette lt occupy suites on the third floor of the executive residence. Karen gave birth to a son, James Earl Carter iv months later ant giving the white house the first infant in many, many decadesch as an Energy Conservation measure the president wanted all of the thermostats in the white house including the residence tr be set at no higher than 65 degrees. The o ushers office was a particular problem. It is a very small office. About 10 feet by 12 feet on the first floor of the executive evidence. Just off of the main entry hall and to the west of the north portico. The office is shared by three people. The chief usher, his Administrative Assistant and the duty usher, who sits in front of a single pane, double hung window measuring 14 feet in height. A typical window throughout the residence. Despite ongoingre efforts to se out to seal these historic window frames to prevent air il gaps and reduce the infiltration of hot and cold air, the prev l prevailing cold winds from the a north drew directly on the the dutyush forefor hours ushers for an hour at a time. This was at night, when the cold air was unbearable for anyone sitting in front of the window for any length of time. Enlisted with no immediate or forthcoming solutions, we enlisted the. Services of the engineers to keep our thermometer set at a comfortable level. We removed the visible thermometer from the thermostat and painted it red at the 65 e h degree ermark. Es. So that anyone looking casually at the thermometer would see it was 65 degrees. Please dont tell president carter. The president was not a fan of the billiards table available to the family on one of the rooms in the private quarter andby asd if it could be remove and replaced by a ping pong table as he enjoyed playing ping pong be with hisof sons. Me for a on a number of occasions the president invited me for a match. The first timed, i played, i wondered what the protocol was. Should i lose or play hard and try to win . Od and i after a couple of minutes, i understood he was pretty good ar and i played to my best. After losing the election to ronald reagan, the president an. Mrs. Carter wanted to show their to the resident staff for their service and invited everyone on the staff to the president ial retreat north of frederick in the mountain ofd camp david. On the president held a luncheon for the staff and then he and cp mrs. Carter took everyone arouno on a personal tour of the entire camp. Thedent camp became the site of most important president ial success, the camp david accords, between egypts president sadat and israel Prime Minister. The results of the camp david no meetings were the signing of the peace treaty accords that were signed on the north grounds of the white house. Many things have been said about president reagan, but i can tell you from my own experience, what you saw was what he was. Although portrayed in the pressn as only an actor, he was never e on stage as the president. He was the same person behind the scenes that you saw on iefs. Television. Had he was always firma in his beliefs sand in the positions he took. He always had a smile on his face and a good word for everyone he passed. For state dinners, mrs. Reagan established a procedure with the white house staff whereby the chefs ab butlers would prepare and serve the proposed menu to e her and the president about two weeks before the actual dinner was to take place. It on these occasions, the meal would be presented exactly as it was to be donees for the state dinner. There were four courses for each meal, including dessert. Plattered for ten persons, that seated at each serv tables, were presented at the table and the president and mrs. Reagan served themselves from the platters. This accomplished a number of things. S they could visuallyee inspect t presentation. See if there was any difficulty serving themselves. Determine if there was sufficient food on the platter to accommodate ten guests. And not the least important, mrr taste theea food. At the conclusion of the meal, i mrs. Reaganve would come into t kitchen and discuss various es options, give various suggestions to the chefs and butlers, sometimes making minor changes and other times major changes and completely changing the menu entirely. In late 1985, then chief usher rex skelton announced his retirement and recommended me to succeed him as the next chief usher of the white house. President reagan apoint me as the seventh chief usher in the history of the white house on january 5th, 1986. One of my most memorable and historic experiences came in it december of 1987. President reagan invited general sect Mikael Gorbachev to the so white house. Following the historic meetings in geneva, switzerland and in m iceland, where the president ee d spoken had broken off the nuclear arm talks with the soviets, this was after his speech in 1983, calling the ussr the evil empire. Ension there was a great deal of apprehension as well as tension surrounding this meeting. Even though the visit was designed around the signing of a new accords, on the dismantling of intermediate nuclear arms. At 1 45 on december 8th, 1987, the president and the general secretary came together in thet east room of the white house and theres with a short ceremony by that ended with the signing of the inf treaty. Stat it was followed by statements broadcast to the world from the state dining room calling for lg the governments to Work Together and pledging new cooperation between the two superpowers. A podium has been placed in ncon front of the fireplace where the famous portrait of Abraham Lincoln loomed at the back drop. For the first time in many yeare at the white house, we lighted t fire in the fireplace and it warmed the room with a special glow. The setting was truly surreal. There were very few people in the room. Ssed, and i was lucky enough to be one of them. As the speeches progressed, i lg could o actually feel the thawi of the cold war and the end of v the evil empire. C whenever president reagan at traveled could camp david, he never forgot to collect acorns for those squirrels that lived in the white house rose garden adjacent to the oval office. Takt he would put nuts in his pockete from camp david, take them to the office on monday morning, wd scatter them outside of the office for the squirrels. One weekend, when he didnt go to the camp, obviously he couldnt collect acorns. By the the following monday a very important meeting with his taf was dis staff was disrupted by the squirrels. They came to the door of the oval office adjacent to the rose garden and were on their hind legs literally scratching at the glass looking for their acorns. After that the executive ground superintendent mr. Herb williams who worked at the white house since 1950s had his grandson collect acorns every weekend and irve left them on the president s desk each monday morning so the squirrels could be fed properly. His in fact, the day before the president left office, and his Vice President george bush use became president , president reagan wrote a note on white house stationery and placed it on a stake in a planter box just adjacent to one [ technical difficulties ]. [ laughter ] whenever anyone discovers that i worked at the white house for many president s their question is, what president did, you like the most . My answer is always the same. D f every president whom i had the privilege to serve was very kind to me and my family. Will that being said, i will say without a doubt that there will never be a nicer family to work for than the bush family, barba especially george and barbara bush. President bush, known to us now as 41, the 41st president of the United States, to distinguish him from his son 43 was probably the most qualified man to ever be president. His father had been a United States senator. He beencces a successful busined and a United States congressman and ambassador to the united nations, director of the cia, st the. First envoy to the people republic of china and a twoterm Vice President. He was consumate diplomat and gentleman. Barbara bush had one of the and quickestth wits i had ever know. She was something of a grand anotherly figure and the last first lady of the 50s mold. Her dedication and love for her family were foremost in her mil life. Mrs. Bush had a constant companion. Her dog millie. Also an author, by the way. Millie, not mrs. Bush. When i inquired of mrs. Bush ari about millies arrival on inaugural day, mrs. Bush told m not to worry because millie was off with their friends farm in kentucky where she was getting married. [ laughter ] i i tried to look nonplussed. But i soon learned the explanation. In early march, millie delivered six puppies into the white housv beauty parlor with mrs. Bush par remaining at her side the entire night. In fact, i dragged the mattress from the bed in the adjacent g room and placed it on the floor next to mrs. Bush for her comfort during the delivery. Ild eventually mrs. Bush presented each of the children each of her children with one of the th puppies and twoem were given to very close friends. One of the puppies, ranger, became the president s dog. Each day while i was the chief s usher, i would present myself to the president s as they exited the elevator on the way from thl evidence to the oval office. I c presented myself principallm for their conveniencate in case they had something they wished to tell me or i had some information to pass along to them. Frequently, president bush wouls invite me to walk with him alke around thein quarter mile south grounds roadway while the dogs romped in the gardens doing what dogs do in the morning. It was on one of these walks s. During desert storm that i learned how deeply the presideny and mrs. Bush were tormented bya the deaths and injury of each o our military men and women. I also learned that he called each family of a fallen one to i express his and the nationsd condolences for their loss. George bush did not hide his emotions well and often as he related some of these his conversations, he had to stop and wipe a tear from his eye. One year, president bush was searching for an idea for mrs. Bushs birthday. And he settled on getting her some and these are his words not mine some comfortable casual shoes, as she was getting older. Es [ laughter ] those canvass shoes made in various colors made by keds. As a joke, he decided to get her a pair of every color they made. At that time i believe it was around eight different colors. Er after he presented her with his gift, mrs. Th bush turned it arod on him. And she began to wear the shoesr everywhere. But that wasnt good enough for mrs. Bush. She went one step further. She would wear a different color on each foot. Giving her an endless combination of choices. Pr [ laughter ]es on a foreign trip to asia in january of 1992, the president e got sick with a stomach virus in japan. But attempted to keep his very busy schedule. To hi much to the president s great rd embarrassment, he reurge tated at the table of the Prime Minister at a formal dinner. Of course, it was captured on film by the news and repeatedly shown over the airwaves. To give the president a welcome home, he would never forget and hopefully put an end to the embarrassment once and for all,r i assembled 230 members of the staff in the reception room. Here the president would enter the white house out of the view of the press and also any p oth staff. I procured a dusk mask for each person and as mrs. Bush entered the room, we dawned the masks. She immediately tarted to laugh hysterically. She pointed at me first and said, george bush is going to fire each and every one of you. [ laughter ] she laughed to the point of having to sit down. The president had lagged behind to make a a short statement to the president before entering the room. He took one look at us and laughed. Then proceeded to have the photographer take pictures withb everyone. Mrs. Bush later told me that tht joke was juster what he needed s get over his embarrassment. As i said earlier, we developed quite a unique bond and relationship with the first families. In the clintons moved into the ono white housf e on january 20th, f 1993. During one of my early conversations with mrs. Clinton, after the election, but before the inaugural, she asked what we could do to occupy chelsea and some of her friends, ranging in the age of 714 years, on inaugural night while the adults were off at the balls. Mrs. Clinton was interested in. Having food and something fun, maybe even informative for the youngsters. Working with the curators offic. And the chefs, we developed a zr planty for a sophisticated pizz party. And a history Scavenger Hunt for the young people. The curators developed an extensive list of historical and artistic facts about the white house that required each of ther groups to travel all the levels and rooms of the white house. Chelsea and her guests had to e answer certain questions, find things like a hidden staircase,s and obtain preplaced food items to bring to the kitchen. Nex teams of three and four were ers chosen and for the next two hours the youngsters roamed thes answers to the white house and exploring. One of the most difficult problems for families at the white house is feeling comfortable enough to gather friends for conversation and fun in the very formal surroundings of the white house. On the occasion of mrs. Bushs n birthday, on october 26th, 1993, her staff wanted to have an oldfashioned costume party. Given the proximity to ing. Halloween. There were to be about 150 guests for buffet and dancing ct with everyone dressed in costumes of their choice. In keeping with the theme, and as a surprise, i, and cap risha marshall, decided that the residence staff serving the party should also be in costumee these are the white house butlers that were gathered with the president and mrs. Clinton on that occasion. The president and mrs. Clinton were very surprised indeed. They had only seen the staff in uniforms, suits, dresses and tuxedos. As you may remember, the clintons also brought socks the cat with them when they moved into the white house. Socks was a spray found by the president on one of his jogs while governor in arkansas and socks was not a house cat. Although the grounds of the white house with fenced, a cat e could easily escape and this presented a problem. Actually, socks spent most of his first few months in the ushers office. The confinement of socks inside of the residence was a concern for chelsea and mrs. Clinton. And they asked if we could device a way to have the cat get some outside time. I amnot a cat lover. I admit that. And for those of you who are, you can close your ears or walk out of the room for a minute, if you wish. We obtained a large the grou corkscrewlike device that could be screwed. The ground and we attached c 35 foot rope to it. With the other attached to a shoulder harness and socks. For months, this worked effectively. Then one late morning i received a call from one of the Police Officers on the south grounds. Who said i needed to come to the south grounds immediately as socks needed assistance. As i exited the residence i could not at first see socks but then i saw an officer standing under a nearby tree. As i approached, the officers pointed into the tree. The end evidently socks had chased a squirrel up the tree, literallys to the end of his rope. And was hanging by his harness in mid air and definitely in some distress. I had someone respond with a ladder and socks was saved. From that time forward, socks m an appropriate distance from squirrels and trees president clinton was one of the great conversationalists of our time. When he talked to you, nothing c elseti intervened. Attent not his schedule, or other activities. You had his total attention. He would take whatever time was required to listen and discuss. Thus, he required the reputation for a notorious lack of discipline in the use of his time and for chronically being late for events. He had one of the most remarkable memories of anyone ive ever met. Mee when meeting friends, aquaint abcs and their families who he had not seen in years, he coulda remember their names andct detas of the interactions. This observation was confirmed s when he hosted the georgetown 25th College Reunion of his class on june 5th, 1993. For over 600 couples. He stood in a receiving line for more than three hours, greeting the majority of the guests by name and asking about their families, also by name. Ary on november 9th, 2000, a celebratory dinner on the 2 hundredth anniversary of the first president s move into the white house, it was held in the east room and was the only is ws dinner that i attended. This was just three days after the disputed election between ar governor georgeee w. Bush and ve president al gore. That final decision was not made until december 13th, 2000. Needless to say this complicate the move of the bush 43 family into the white house. Fortunately george and laura bush were familiar with the workings of the white house and the staff, therefore the move, although short in time planning, was accomplished in good order. A inaugural day of 2001 brought me to a personal level of discomfort i never experienced at the white house. S the importanceth of this day to the American People and the world media requires absolutelyl compliance with a previously agreed upon schedule, giving the constitutions mandate that thed new president take the oath of office at noon. As i said earlier, res clinton was known for being late. Was the president elect, who was staying across the street at blair house, was known for being extremely punctual. The schedule called for a greeting of the bushes at the north porticeao atr, 10 30. Pr at the time drew near the president was not in place to greet the president elect. Movig at 10 20, i was told the president elect was moving from his suite at blair house towards his limo and the short drive across the street to the north portico. I told his aide in no uncertainr terms to stop him at the door and not let him proceed. I immediately looked for president clintons aides and d none were to be found. They had already departed. It fell to me to find and get the president to the north portico. After a few minutes of searching i learned he was in the oval office. I told the president heas t nee to come immediately to the north portico as the president elect y on his way and it would be nob embarrassing for him notel to b there to greet the bushes. To a p i couldnt believe i was issuing orders, both to a president and an incoming president. The president hurries to the north portico and the greeting took place on time as scheduled at 10 30. The president and mrs. Bush were playful with each other. They affectionately called each other bushy. They would hold hands and pinch or pat each other on the bottom. The president could frequently be seen tapping his wristwatch spdicating he had been waiting foreher to joinot them when the war waiting for activities to begin. Nt spot, one of the puppies of Barbara Bushs dog millie was k the president s dog and ice companion. Sometimes during the day, it would take a short break from the rigor of the oval office and go into the south grounds and hit a tennis ball that spotty would chase and return until she was literally exhausted. Spot, born at the white house, also died there a few years later. Her health deteriorated rapidly over a few months and in her last weeks she could barely walk. Hey ha on the night before spot died,. The presiden t carried her to the on th south grounds where they had played so much ball. , and he laid beside her on the ground wrapping himself around her so gently and stroking her head to comfort both the dog ant himself. Those of us, the secret service and i who watched, were brought to tears by his affection. The next morning he could not take her to the Doctors Office to be euthanized. He told me he had said his goodbye. I asked mrs. Bush if she wanted. Us to take spot but she said no, i will do it, as she wiped a tear from her eye while petting their new dog the scottish terrier barney. His the president was an athlete oft extraordinary skills. This was supported when his mit doctors measured his resting heartbeat at 50 beats per lance minute. Which matched that of then cyclist lance armstrong. He did not jog, he ran. And in all weather and especially on the hottest days. With a few years of moving into the white house, he damaged his legs and hips as most runners eventually do. And hi he was distraught and searched for another means to keep up his exercise routine. He tried various types of equipment and found none that hs liked and that allowed him to bg outside. Took he was introduced to off road biking by some of his staff and he took to it with a vengeance. He loved the physical challenge and the aerobic exercise. Bro he even broke a trek bike that the designer said couldnt be broken at least not where he broke it. They ended up redesigning that e line of bike certainly my most1 terrifying day, at the white house was september 11th, 2001. E what mosvet people do not rememr about that day, that evening ina particular, the president and mrs. Bush were to host a picnice on the south grounds of the white house for the United States congress, both the house. And the senate, the cabinet, the Vice President , and other high officials of the administratione and the congress. J if the terrorists had attacked the white house just eight hours later, the entire federal led on government would have been day,i assembled on the white house south lawn. To this day it is my firm belief that the united flight 93 which was forpsed down by brave hea americans to crash into the ground in shanksville, pital. For theania, was headed white house, not the capitol. Those who fought back on that plane, i believe, saved my life. I was fortunate enough to later attend their Memorial Service i. Shanksville. When i decided to retire in 2007, the president and mrs. Bush surprised me beyond belieft with a large reception and inviting individuals from every administration i had served. At a small ceremony before the reception, he presented me with the president ial award for distinguished civilian service. E on a number of occasions, ive talked about the relationship of the residence staff and the sidt first families. Resident staff is a unique group both in their dedication to the presidency and their eah varied and professional talents. We develop a strong relationshib with each family, and that is of not only a bond of respect for the presidency, but also a fondness of shared experience. At the end of each administration, just before the president greats the new president elect at the north portico, we share one last emotional goodbye. R the resident staff gathers in e the state dining room and presents the president with the flag that flew over the white house on the day that he took office and the flag that flew over the white house on his last day in office. There i cannot translate to you the emotion that takes place in that few short minutes but it is one. Of the saddest moments of each of the lives of the people in that room. That sadness is not quickly forgotten or erased from our memory but we must put it aside and quickly get ready for a new family that will be moving into the white house in just a few short hours. Ive rambled along here for a few minutes so i understand there is an opportunity for questions and i would be glad to answer any that anybody has and if i dont wan to answer it, i would just say no, i learned that from mrs. Reagan. [ applause ] any questions . Ng a if you were writing a Job Description for your job as an e usher, what would you include in it as far as qualifications and experience . What would the qualificatione be . Common sensep of would be top oe i would compare the chief ushers job to that of the fegur manager of a hotel. You have one longterm tenant. And the responsibility is to safeguard the first family. So the resume would not necessarily be long, but it would certainly require a lot or just common sense and trying to be able to serve the presidencyd if serving all the different president s that you did, did you avoid politics or did you adapt to the politics of the day . Avoided. Blican i was lucky enough to serve bot republicans and democrats and the one great thing about the job that i had and that all thel resident staff had is that we got to know the families as families. We were there to try and take t some of the drudgery out of their day. D they had enough to do. Certainly the president does, the firs t ladies have their own responsibilities. They can not worry about some of the small things like who is going to fix the plumbing, who is going to make the dinner . Thats what the resident staff is there for. And the resident staff sees to themselves as serving the presidency, not the president. Gary, during the nixon years, you were there and we had john dean here two years ago during this symposium. F of course, he lived in marion and he was a major part of the watergate issue. Nt as how does the residency deal with that as that turmoil and that tempest is going around. Didnt make it more difficult, normal or how did you handle reat . We tried to carry on as much as possible for the families. Osi certainly every administration b that i worked for is major obstacles placed in front of them during their time in the white house. E sdmroilt r and it was our responsibility to take care of everything and to see that there was not a some kind of blockadeould in front of their n request. See if we couldnt take some of that burden. Re is a but i dont want to down play. We get very close to the families. When theres a death in the family. A mother or a father, president or first lady passes away, its taken very hard by the staff. T c and we understandcu that, as we as some of the other problems that occur while theyre in thef office. So theto t staff gets very clos the family. Now is t one of the things that most people dont know is that the secret service goes to a certai, point in the executive ind th government. And then they stop and behind that is the doors. And h what is the hardest part of a first lady and her children adjusting to living in the white house . Im sure youve heard it before. Its living in afoilie fish bow. Its tremendously difficult for families to live there and just be a normal family. Children going to school in a chauffeured driven car by the secret service and having people set outside of their door, maybe thats fun for an 8yearold, but when they turn to be 13, thi thatss probably not as fun, especially if they have any desire to go on a date of any kind. Its not easy living in the white house. The and thats why the resident staff tries to provide that kina of privacy for the first family. Theres a point at which nobody goes without permission and that point is determined by the first family. Is it anything like donton abby . Is no no. The residence isnt quite as ao formal as some of theug europea great houses. Although the name chief usher comes from an older british term, which meant head of the household. There are customs that still that remain at the white house. The staff still is very respondent to being in service to the president. Is. But i think it would be a far reach to see anything like duri dowton abby. Mr. Walters, i have a very simple question to ask you. During your tenure, who was your favorite social secretary that you worked with . Somehow, i thought a former social secretary might come up with that question. And, of course, it had to be caprica marshall. Th we spent probably more time with each other than we did with our spouses for eight years. This is working, yes, absolutely workinu at the white house. This is a light hearted question, but i noticed when yo. Were talking about the pingpong, you never said who won. Thats right. I didnt. Tt. G you mentioned that at one time there was the suggestion during mr. Trumans administration that they tear down the white house and start over again. And i wonder, have there ever been serious recommendations that it might be healthier if the president and his family lived separately from their office . At least some studies have shown that its good to have a chancek to get out of ones residence and work apart from it, rather than having it all in one ery building. Has there ever been thatan proposal . Im sure that every president and first lady feels that way, that they could leave the white house behind andel go elsewhere. That is one reason why camp david is such a benefit to the presidencymp. D the president , first lady can get on the helicopter or drive d to camp, david, in the helicoptr in less than half an hour, in a car in about an hour and a half and they can spend their weekent there. Say theres probably some people on the staff that dont want to hear me say this because it e we found that it is true, that white house staff is much more reluctant to call the president y or the first lady at camp davidi than they are if theyre just next door in the white house. So i i think there have beeno considerations, but having the benefit of the white house home and office so close at hand witl everything that goes along withl it, i think, are extremely important for the presidency. I dont ever see it changing. I was curious about the personal expenses which you said the president and first lady pat themselves, things like toothpaste and personal items, they pay all that themselves and i realize that theyre that entertaining, you know if theyre entertaining anything that has to do with the presidency, thatasnd is picked d and they dont pay for it, but m youre saying any personal friends that come in, they would have to pay for the meals that you prepare and could you detain that a little more . Certainly. Any item that they use personally or that their guests use personally and that of an individual is not an official guest, like at a state dinner o, a reception held by a politicald committee, state dinner reimbursed to the white house via the state department, politicacaly events are reimbur. By the political entity that was responsible for the event, but any of the personal items that r the president and the first lady, their family and their personal guests use are paid fo, by the president. Bottle of water. Te and the accounting that i talked about, keeping account of d two things, if we get a crate of eggs for the kitchen and two eggs go to the president s breakfast in the morning, those two eggs are accounted for. If three dozen of the eggs go to a dinner for the state department, thats accounted for. H, a if three eggs go to somebodys lunch, a guest of the family, that gets charged along with the two eggs in the morning. So we kept track of everything. Of course, if theres a broken egg, its spoilage and we keep track of that, too. Ay for but, no, they pay for all of their own personal expenses
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