The Residence - Inside the Private World of The White House (52 page)

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.

About the Author

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.

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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

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