The longest-serving chief usher at the White House shares behind-the-scenes memories of past presidents.
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WASHINGTON – He watched President Bill Clinton work on homework with his daughter Chelsea at the White House kitchen table. He once witnessed President Jimmy Carter plucking a long-stemmed rose from the rose garden for his wife, Rosalyn, on his way home from the Oval Office. He watched as President Gerald Ford took his first dip in the newly built outdoor pool.
Gary Walters is the longest-serving White House chief usher, serving seven presidents and their families, working just meters away from where they lived. He was the first to greet the president and first lady after they emerged from their private residence to the official residence area in the morning.
Asher plays the role of the building’s general manager, overseeing everything from food provision to construction, and managing approximately 90 staff including butlers, maids, housekeepers, chefs, curators, and engineers.
And the public has a certain amount of fascination with this position. If you’ve watched The Residence, Netflix’s fictional series about a White House murder, you’ll know that the usher is played by Giancarlo Esposito.
In his new book, “White House Memories 1970-2007: Reminiscences of the Longest-Serving Secretary of State Usher,” released Dec. 5, Walters told USA TODAY that his goal is to portray the White House as a home and not a purely political entity. This book was published by the White House Historical Association.
“First and foremost, it’s a family home. There’s so much activity going on,” Walter said in a phone interview, adding jokingly, “I mean, you turn on the news and it says, ‘Today the White House said, ‘Well, I’ve never seen that mouth.'”
Walters joined the ushers after working at the White House as a member of the Secret Service, tasked with protecting Presidents Nixon and Ford. IHe joined the company in 1976 and was promoted to Chief Usher in 1986. He held that position until his retirement in 2007.
Mr. Walters, 79, also served Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their families.
“Secretary Usher is probably the only person who dealt with the president and the first lady on a daily basis,” he said.
Below are some of his memories shared with USA TODAY.
‘The scariest’ day and canceled picnic at the White House
Shortly after 8:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001, Mr. Walters saw First Lady Laura Bush off the White House grounds as she left the White House grounds to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Early Childhood Development.
“And as she was getting into the car, her agent turned to me and turned to her and said there had just been a terrible accident. A plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings,” he said.
At 8:46 a.m., the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 had just crashed into the North Tower.
The first woman’s car left immediately. She didn’t know it was a terrorist attack.
Walters then headed to several trailers parked on the south lawn. There, smoked beef was being prepared for that evening’s Congressional picnic hosted by the president and first lady.
“The entire Congress, senior Congressional staff, White House staff and the Cabinet were scheduled to gather starting around 5 p.m.,” Walters said.
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“They were cooking the beef in a huge trailer on the south property and smoking it for two to three days,” Walters said.
After checking on them, Walters returned to his office in the entrance hall of the White House to find his staff glued to the television.
“I asked one of my assistants how on earth they were able to get that photo into the press so quickly,” he said. “And they said it was the second plane.”
Realizing the magnitude of what had happened, Walters called the social secretary to cancel the picnic.
His first task was to ask caterers to break up arrangements and prepare to welcome the president, who it was known would be returning from Florida, where he had been visiting an elementary school.
“As I was exiting the south portico door, I heard a thud, and as I looked over the treetops, I saw smoke coming from the Pentagon.”
A call was immediately made to evacuate the White House. Walters said he brought about six people to the south property to move 130 picnic tables. Each table weighed approximately 350 pounds. But they knew they needed to make room for the president’s helicopter to land at the southern compound, as opposed to the original plan to land at the Pentagon.
The first lady was taken to a remote location by the Secret Service.
“It wasn’t until later that night that she returned to the White House,” Walters said. “The president was about to address the nation from the Oval Office.”
East Wing Memories: Presidents ‘lamented’ lack of space
The east wing, which houses the first lady’s office and was recently demolished to make way for a banquet hall at the direction of President Donald Trump, is where Walters met his wife.
She served as a receptionist in the East Wing during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Asked what he thought about the demolition of the East Building, Walters was reluctant to discuss the matter. But he said there was always a feeling, dating back to the Nixon administration, that the building lacked a suitable space to hold large gatherings.
“During the Nixon administration, when we had 1,800 people on the South Ground for a returning POW dinner, we started putting up huge tents on the South Ground, and that was always a problem,” Walters said.
They took away the president’s ability to land a helicopter there. Second, if you put flooring inside your tent for guests, the grass will die and you will have to replace it with grass.
“I mean, this is a job. And a lot of the presidents that I’ve worked with, almost all of them, in fact, have always lamented the fact that the White House is limited in size compared to what you encounter when you go overseas and go to different places,” he said.
Barbara Bush: The Most Sociable First Lady
Barbara Bush and her husband loved socializing. They had friends in Washington and around the world. Before becoming vice president, George H.W. Bush was a businessman, a member of Congress, director of the CIA, and ambassador to the United Nations.
“They set up a monthly movie night, showing first-run movies provided by the Film Institute. Mrs. Bush set up a buffet in her private room, and there were about 50 people in attendance, consisting of members of Congress, members of the press, and their friends,” he said.
“And at a certain hour, after Mrs. Bush had watched and made sure that everyone had almost finished eating and drinking, she went to get the little silver bell that she had, and she said,,”Movie time! It’s movie time! ” he said.
The Bush matriarch, along with Walters, ushered people in and out of the family theater in the East Wing.
“People walked in and the butlers were standing there with drinks and popcorn,” he said. “There was no specific way the White House would do it. It was the way the family wanted it to be done.”
President Bill Clinton doesn’t even glance at his watch.
One of his most “wonderful” memories was watching President Clinton host a college reunion. In June 1993, Clinton invited Georgetown University’s Class of 1968 to his 25th reunion dinner and dance on the South Lawn of the White House.
Walters said he was amazed at Clinton’s ability to remember each person’s name, ask about their children and parents, and stay on the reception line for more than two and a half hours.
“He wasn’t working with a notebook or anything like that,” Walters said. “Some people say he doesn’t manage his time. When President Clinton was having a conversation with you, he continued the conversation to the end. He didn’t look at the clock and say, ‘Look, I have to run. ”
Nancy Reagan and the Emergence of the Experimental State Dinner
The tradition of state dinners began in 1874 when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted King Kalakaua of the Kingdom of Hawaii, but First Lady Nancy Reagan introduced the concept of trial or practice dinners as a way to preview the final product.
Chefs propose menus to the social secretary, who then turn to Nancy Regan for approval and tweaks. A week or so before the main event, the chefs work on a complete dinner and sample it exactly as it will be served on the day of the event.
That tradition continues to this day.
“The tables were set with platters for 10 people, and those dinners were served to the president and first lady, sometimes with family and friends in attendance,” he said. “That way the president and first lady could know if it was difficult to take the food off the platter.”
Let your first family feel at home in the White House
As soon as a new president is elected, the Usher Office sets up a meeting with the incoming first family and begins to understand their preferences.
The idea is that when the family moves into the White House on the afternoon of Inauguration Day, everything will be done to their liking during the four or five hours before the president and president-elect go to the Capitol.
“This includes personal furniture, food likes and dislikes, and snacks in the kitchen and pantry,” Walters says. “Sometimes you just change the room to suit your needs and requirements.”
He assessed the number of bedrooms the new president wanted, often building from different spaces based on family size.
“We work diligently to make sure this home is theirs from the time our residents walk in the door on their first day to the time they leave four or eight years later,” he said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
