Read The Residence - Inside the Private World of The White House Online
Authors: Kate Andersen Brower
President George W. Bush and his family loved Butler James Ramsey. And Ramsey loved them back. “If I live to be one hundred,” Ramsey said, “I’ll never forget his family.”
President Obama confers with Chief Usher Stephen Rochon during one of their daily walks from the residence to the Oval Office, March 6, 2009. The president uses the time to register any household complaints. “If the water pressure wasn’t right, or the Wi-Fi’s not working, you’ve got to talk to somebody about it, right?” says former Obama aide Reggie Love.
Butler James Ramsey speaks with Sasha and Malia Obama in the State Dining Room as their grandmother Marian Robinson looks on. The Obamas have a unique relationship with the mostly African American butler staff.
More than fifty years after his first day at the White House, Doorman Wilson Jerman escorts the Obamas to the residence in the White House elevator, May 4, 2009. Jerman can remember standing underneath the White House’s North Portico and hearing the
click, click
of horses’ hooves as President Kennedy’s flag-draped casket was taken from the White House to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER
spent four years covering the Obama administration for Bloomberg News. Previously, she worked at CBS News in New York and Fox News in Washington, D.C. She has written for the
Washington Post
,
Bloomberg Businessweek
, and the
Washingtonian
. She lives outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband and two young children. She can be followed on Twitter: @katebrower.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.
THE RESIDENCE. Copyright © 2015 by Kate Andersen Brower. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
PORTRAITS ON PP. 82, 95, 119, 157, 216, 260: TINA HAGER/WHITE HOUSE, COURTESY GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
FIRST EDITION
ISBN: 978-0-06-230519-0
EPub Edition April 2015 ISBN 9780062305213
15 16 17 18 19 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007