Collection The Working White House
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the home of American presidents. A powerful symbol of the...
The Working White House: Witness to History
Gallery
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Roland Harley, a doorman in the Usher’s Office, shelters the Reagans from an April shower. When President Ronald Reagan returned to the White House on April 11, 1981, twelve days after he had been shot in the chest, he was greeted by 200 well-wishers on the South Lawn.
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum/NARA -
President James A. Garfield on his deathbed, 1881. After President James A. Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, he lived for 80 days while doctors tried to save his life. Valet Daniel Spriggs (far left) remained at Garfield’s bedside for most of this time. Spriggs later served in the home of Garfield’s daughter, Mollie, and subsequently worked at the Government Printing Office.
Kiplinger Washington Collection -
Winston Churchill with Diana Hopkins, 1941. During the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited the White House so frequently that staff members learned to anticipate his likes and dislikes. In late December 1941, Churchill posed on the lawn with Diana Hopkins, daughter of presidential aide Harry Hopkins, and Fala, the president’s Scottie.
White House Historical Association -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vyacheslav M. Molotov, 1942.
Washington Star Collection, Washingtoniana Division, D.C. Public Library -
When Vyacheslav M. Molotov, the Soviet Union’s foreign minister, visited President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House during wartime in May 1942, he did so surreptitiously, calling himself Mr. Brown. But maître d’ Alonzo Fields noticed “the foxy glint” in Molotov’s eye, and saw right through the subterfuge.
Alonzo Fields’ journal entry about Vyacheslav Molotov, 1942
Courtesy of Mayland Fields
About this Gallery
White House workers’ memoirs abound with recollections of significant international and national events and episodes. As they go about their daily business, members of the residence staff function amidst history in the making.
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