by J. B. West
Prayer card selected by Mrs. Kennedy and presented at the door of St. Matthew’s Cathedral to all attending the President’s funeral, November 25, 1963.
Mrs. Kennedy’s note, of December 2, 1963, with the inscription she wished to leave in the White House, to be placed on the mantel in her bedroom. The mantel already had one plaque, stating that Abraham Lincoln had slept in the room.
On her last day in the White House, December 6, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy pauses in the West Hall upstairs (second floor—known as the Family Sitting Room) to say goodbye to Mr. West. John F. Kennedy, Jr., is seated on an antique octagonal desk presented to the White House during the Kennedy restoration.
The Johnsons move into the White House, December 7, 1963. Chief Usher J. B. West was at the Diplomatic (South) Entrance to greet Mrs. Johnson (carrying a photograph of the late Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives) and sixteen-year-old Luci Baines, who arrived in the convertible at right with Him and Her (foreground).
Mrs. Johnson’s bedroom, with the white walls and carpet that Mrs. Kennedy used, was decorated in green velvet, yellow silk, and rose-and-green curtains and bedspread. Over the fireplace is a French Impressionist landscape owned by Mrs. Johnson; to the left is a portrait of President Johnson.
The West Sitting Hall, redecorated by Mrs. Johnson, was rarely used by the First Lady because there were too many doors. Doors at right, on north wall, opened onto the second-floor kitchen; those at left, to Mr. Johnson’s dressing room and bedroom. Above the commode on which Mrs. Johnson displayed photographs of Caroline Kennedy with her pony, Tex, is a French Impressionist painting on loan to the White House.
The Catlin Indians, in the Center Hall, were much admired by Mrs. Johnson, but were sent back to the Smithsonian early in the Nixon administration. (At right is a Copley portrait, then on loan to the White House.)
State dinner in the Rose Garden, honoring Dr. Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of West Germany, was an innovation under the Johnsons, on June 12, 1964. President and Mrs. Johnson received the guests in the East Room before dinner was served on the round tables just outside the President’s office window. During dinner, the red-uniformed Marine orchestra played (center). After dinner, the National Symphony Orchestra played from the band shell on the south lawn (far right), and dancers Maria Tallchief and Jacques D’Amboise presented a ballet program. Afterward champagne was served from tents.
Mrs. Johnson appeared on the grand staircase early on the morning of her daughter Luci’s wedding, August 6, 1966, to survey the masses of pink-and-white flowers decorating the state floor of the White House. Luci was married to Patrick Nugent at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and their huge wedding reception was held at the White House.
J. B. West, Chief Usher of the White House, and Mrs. Johnson’s social secretary, Bess Abell, planning final details for a State dinner in the Rose Garden, June 12, 1964.
For the reception following Lynda Bird Johnson’s wedding to Marine Captain Charles Robb, December 9, 1967, guests overflowed from the State Dining Room into a heated pink tent covering the West Terrace (over the swimming pool). Seated inside the tent are Chief Usher J. B. West, (right) White House Curator James Ketchum, and their wives.
J. B. West, Chief Usher of the White House, confers with Head Butler John Ficklin, before a dinner in the State Dining Room, during the Johnson administration. On the round table, set for ten, is the Lincoln china, the Monroe vermeil flatware, and the West Virginia “President’s House” crystal. The multicolored flower arrangement is typical of those used during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Photo by James P. Blair, National Geographic
Chief Usher J. B. West, at his headquarters just inside the front door of the White House.
On November 11, 1968, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson invited Mrs. Richard M. Nixon to the White House to discuss the day-to-day operation of the President’s home. In the West Sitting Hall Chief Usher J. B. West shows the two First Ladies blueprints of the mansion.
His last day in the White House, March 1, 1969, Chief Usher J. B. West passed up the traditional farewell party for luncheon in the kitchen. Chef Henry Haller (center) and pastry chef Heinz Bender (right) served Mr. West and his wife, Zella, a four-course gourmet luncheon.
The material in this book was compiled from tape recordings, from the rich store of memory of J. B. West, and from his extensive personal files.
To prepare for interviewing Mr. West, I read the following books, as a background on White House history. I am also grateful to James R. Ketchum, a true White House historian, for his assistance in research and preparation of the manuscript.
M.L.K.
ALBERTSON, DEAN, Eisenhower as President. New York, Hill and Wang, 1963.
ALLEN, GEORGE, Presidents Who Have Known Me. New York, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1950.
BALDRIGE, LETITIA, Of Diamonds and Diplomats. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1968.
BISHOP, JIM, A Day in the Life of President Kennedy. New York, Random House, 1964.
———, A Day in the Life of President Johnson. New York, Random House, 1967.
BLACK, RUBY, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Biography. New York, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1940.
Blair House, Past and Present. An Account of Its Life and Times in the City of Washington. United States Department of State, MCMXLV.
CARPENTER, LIZ, Ruffles and Flourishes. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1970.
DONOVAN, ROBERT J., Eisenhower, The Inside Story. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1956.
EISENHOWER, DWIGHT D., The White House Years, Vol. I. Mandate for Change, 1953–1956. New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1963.
———, The White House Years, Vol. II. Waging Peace, 1956–1961. New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1965.
———, At Ease; Stories I Tell to Friends. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1967.
FIELDS, ALONZO, My 24 Years in the White House. New York, Coward-McCann, Inc., 1961.
FURMAN, BESS, Washington By-Line. New York, A. A. Knopf, 1949.
———, White House Profile. Indianapolis, New York, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1951.
GALLAGHER, MARY BARELLI, My Life With Jacqueline Kennedy. New York, David McKay, 1969.
GERLINGER, IRENE HAZARD, Mistresses of the White House: A Narrator’s Tale of a Pageant of First Ladies. New York, Hollywood, Samuel French, 1948.
HATCH, ALDEN, Red Carpet for Mamie. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1954.
HELM, EDITH BENHAM, The Captains and the Kings. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1954.
HOOVER, IRWIN HOOD, Forty-Two Years in the White House. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934.
JEFFRIES, ONA GRIFFIN, In and Out of the White House … from Washington to the Eisenhowers. New York, Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1960.
JENSEN, AMY LA FOLLETTE, The White House and Its Thirty-Two Families. New York, Toronto, London, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1958.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON, A White House Diary. New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970.
JOHNSON, GEORGE, Eisenhower. Derby, Connecticut, Monarch Books, Inc., 1962.
JOHNSON, LYNDON B., The Vantage Point. New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1971.
KALTMAN, MARY, Keeping Up with Keeping House. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1971.
LARSON, ARTHUR, Eisenhower, the President Nobody Knew. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968.
LASH, JOSEPH P., Eleanor and Franklin. New York, W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1971.
MANCHESTER, WILLIAM, The Death of a President. New York, Harper & Row, 1967.
MCCALLUM, JOHN, Six Roads from Abilene. Seattle, Washington, Wood & Reber, Inc., 1960.
MCLENDON, WINZOLA, and SMITH, SCOTTIE, Don’t Quote Me! New York, Dutton, 1970.
MCNAUGHTON, FRANK, and HEHMEYET, WALTER, Harry Truman, President. New York, Toronto, London, Whittlesey House (Division of McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,) 1948.
MEANS, MARIANNE, The Women in the White House, the Lives, Times and Influence
of Twelve Notable First Ladies. New York, Random House, 1963.
MONTGOMERY, RUTH, Hail to the Chiefs. New York, Coward-McCann, Inc., 1970.
MORROW, E. FREDERICK, Black Man in the White House. New York, Coward-McCann, Inc., 1963.
NESBITT, HENRIETTA, White House Diary, F.D.R.’s Housekeeper. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1948.
NIXON, RICHARD M., Six Crises. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1962.
PARKS, LILLIAN ROGERS, in collaboration with Frances Spatz Leighton, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House. New York, Fleet Publishing Corp., 1961.
Report of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, 1964–1969, George B. Hartzog, Jr., Chairman, 1969.
ROOSEVELT, ELEANOR, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1961.
SHELTON, ISABELLE, The White House, A Fawcett Special Edition, 1962.
SMITH, MARIE, Entertaining in the White House. Washington, D.C., Acropolis Books, 1967.
SMITH, MERRIMAN, Merriman Smith’s Book of Presidents. New York, W. W. Norton & Co., 1972.
SNYDER, MARTY, My Friend Ike. New York, Frederick Fell, Inc., 1956.
STEINBERG, ALFRED, The Man from Missouri: The Life and Times of Harry S. Truman. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1962.
TAYLOR, TIM, The Book of Presidents, 1972. New York, Arno Press, A New York Times Company, 1972.
THAYER, MARY VAN RENSSELAER, Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Boston, Toronto, Little Brown and Company, 1971.
TRUMAN, HARRY, Memoirs by Harry Truman, Vol. I, Year of Decisions. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1955.
———, Memoirs by Harry Truman, Vol. II, Years of Trial and Hope. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1956.
TRUMAN, MARGARET, Harry S. Truman. New York, William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1973.
———, with Margaret Cousins, Souvenir: Margaret Truman’s Own Story. New York, Toronto, London, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1956.
———, White House Pets. New York, David McKay Co., 1969.
WHITE, THEODORE H., The Making of the President, 1960. New York, Atheneum, 1961.
About the Authors
J. B. West (1912–1983), chief usher of the White House—or executive director of the executive mansion and grounds—was once called “the most powerful man in Washington next to the president.” Discreet and witty, he supervised the large permanent staff that provided for every personal want and need for six presidents and first ladies, including at state dinners, weddings, and funerals, redecorating the facilities for each family and tending to every special request. He served first as assistant to the chief usher and then as chief usher after retiring as a high-level civilian officer of the US Navy. A native Iowan, his White House tenure (1941–1969) followed a career in the Veterans Administration. Upstairs at the White House was published in 1973 and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for months, with more than five hundred extraordinarily positive reviews, editions in seven languages, and more than two million copies sold in the US across hardcover and paperback formats.
Mary Lynn Kotz, the author of four books, is a freelance magazine journalist based in Washington, DC. A contributing editor of ARTnews, she has written many cover stories, including “A Day with Georgia O’Keeffe.” Her book Rauschenberg: Art and Life is the biography of the late American artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008), about whom she has given illustrated lectures at more than seventy museums and festivals, including at the 2009 Venice Biennale.
Upstairs at the White House from 1961 on
Upstairs at the White House from 1961 on
1. Harry Hopkins’ Bedroom under Roosevelt
2. Monroe Room under Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower
3. President’s Study under Roosevelt and Truman
Trophy Room under Eisenhower
4. The First Lady’s Sitting Room under Roosevelt and Truman
5. The First Lady’s Bedroom under Roosevelt and Truman
6. Lorena Hickok’s Bedroom under Roosevelt
Margaret’s Bedroom under Truman
Mrs. Doud’s Bedroom under Eisenhower
7. Lincoln Bedroom under Roosevelt
Margaret’s Sitting Room under Truman
Family Sitting Room under Eisenhower
8. First Lady’s Office under Roosevelt and Truman
President’s Painting Room under Eisenhower
Children’s Formula and High Chair Room under Kennedy
Luci’s Study under Johnson
9. Guest Room under Roosevelt (reserved for Joe Lash)
Guest Room under Truman (Reathel Odum’s Room for first year)
Guest Room under Eisenhower
John’s Room under Kennedy
Luci’s Room under Johnson
10. Book Storage under Roosevelt and Truman
Rose Woods’ Pressing Room under Eisenhower
Nurse Maude Shaw’s Room under Kennedy
Dress Storage Room under Johnson
11. Guest Room under Roosevelt
Mrs. Wallace’s Room under Truman
Guest Room under Eisenhower
Caroline’s Room under Kennedy
Lynda Bird’s Room under Johnson
12. Called the Rose Room under Roosevelt—later referred to as the Queen’s Room after five Queens had slept there
Index
A | B | C | D | E
F | G | H | I | J
K | L | M | N | O
P | R | S | T
U | V | W | Y | Z
Abell Bess, 284–85, 287, 289, 290, 294, 297, 303, 308, 310, 326, 335, 336, 337, 339–40, 341–43, 345, 346, 347, 348–49
Abell, Tyler, 303
Acheson, Dean, 94
Acheson, Mrs. Dean, 89
Adams, Charles Francis, 242 n.
Adams, Sherman, 133, 168, 174 n., 185
Agnew, Spiro, 355, 364
Agnew, Mrs. Spiro, 355, 364
Allen, Eugene, 208
Allen, George, 165, 186, 363
Allen, Mrs. George E., 161 n.
Alsop, Mrs. Joseph, 245 n.
Arata, Mr., 269, 277
Arden, Elizabeth, 178
Arness, James, 307
Arrington, Bonner, 273, 280–81, 287, 345
Arthur, Chester A., 241
Astor, Mrs. Vincent, 199
Attlee, Clement, 118
Auchincloss, Hugh D., 277, 279
Auchincloss, Mrs. Hugh D., 234, 277, 279
Avery, Isaac, 292
Ayub Khan, 260, 267
Bacon, Mrs. Robert Low, 365
Baines, Huffman, 304
Baldrige, Letitia “Tish,” 197, 205, 211, 232, 250, 256–57, 259, 261, 262, 264–65, 341–42, 343
Barkley, Alben, 110, 231
Bartlett, Charles, 232
Bartlett, Martha, 232
Baruch, Bernard, 45
Bauss, Rudy, 288
Benton, “Tojo,” 180
Benton, William, 297 n.
Bernhard, Prince, of Holland, 33, 122
Bethune, Mary McLeod, 31–32
Biddle, Francis, 83
Billings, Lemoyne, 235
Birdzell, Officer, 116–17
Bishop, Jim, 281
Black, Mrs. James C., 161 n.
Blair, Elizabeth, 105
Blair, Francis Preston, 104–5
Bobbitt, Becky, 304
Boettiger, Anna Roosevelt, 20, 24, 37, 46, 52–53, 55
Boettiger, John, 37, 53
Boettiger, Johnny, 46, 53
Boring, Secret Service Agent, 116
Boudin, M. Stephane, 242 ff., 270, 275, 278, 281, 299–300, 323, 358, 359
Bouvier, John Vernou, 203
Bowen, Janet, 211
Boyd, Betsy, 233, 274, 321
Bradlee, Benjamin, 232
Bradlee, Toni, 232
Brooks (chauffeur), 143
Brown, Mrs., 321, 330
Brown, Mrs. George R., 297 n.
Brownell, Herbert, 1
74 n.
Brubeck, Dave, 338
Bruce (senior doorman), 354
Bryant, Mr., 290, 349
Buchanan, James, 241
Bulganin, Nikolai, 169 n.
Burkley, Dr., 307
Butcher, Mrs. Ruth, 161 n.
Byrnes, Mrs. James F., 89
Caesar (valet), 44
Calhoun, John C., 105
Califano, Joe, 337
Campbell, Mary, 28
Cannon, Clark, 107
Carlson, Joel, 176
Carlyle, Carol, 345
Carmichael, Leonard, 248 n.
Carpenter, Liz, 284–85, 287, 289, 290, 297, 303, 329, 331–32, 346
Carter, Connie, 345
Carter, M. O., 92
Carter, Tom, 208
Casals, Pablo, 259
Castagnetta, Grace, 16
Castro, Nash, 297 n.
Catlin, George, 199
Catton, Bruce, 297 n.
Chaney, Mayris, 34
Channing, Carol, 336 Charnley, Harry, 92 Chiang Kai-shek, Madame, 43–44 Churchill, Sarah, 89 Churchill, Winston, 38–41, 48, 60, 89, 107, 121 Churchill, Mrs. Winston, 89 Clark, Gilmore, 98 Claunch, Charles, 15, 17, 18, 35, 54, 56 Clay, Henry, 105 Clements, Earle, 303 Cleveland, Mrs. Grover, 330 Clifford, Clark M., 248 n. Clifton, Gen., 201 Coffelt, Officer, 117 Collingwood, Charles, 253 Conger, Clement, 359 Connally, John, 310 Coolidge, Calvin, 62, 97, 103 Coolidge, Mrs. Calvin, 62, 103 Cowdin, Mrs. J. Cheever, 245 n. Cox, Tricia Nixon, 354, 355, 356 Crim, Howell G., 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 38, 42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 73, 79, 82, 83, 85, 88, 90, 91, 93, 96, 97, 99, 102, 104, 107, 109, 113, 114, 116, 119, 120, 123, 126, 129, 130, 133, 155, 160, 169, 175, 176–77, 326