Gary Walters spent nearly four decades making the White House a home.
The White House is an iconic symbol of the most powerful country in the world.
It is also a place where people live.
Gary Walters, the White House’s longest-serving chief usher, was a fly on the wall in the Executive Residence from 1970 through 2007, with unparalleled daily access to former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their families. West Wing Playbook caught up with Walters ahead of next month’s release of his new book, “White House Memories,” to talk about everything from the East Wing demolition to the haunted Lincoln Bedroom.
“The chief usher was probably the only person who spoke to both the president and the first lady almost every day,” Walters said. “That was probably the thing that I enjoyed the most, getting to know the presidents and the first ladies and their families on a personal level.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
President Donald Trump has made several changes to the White House — paving over the Rose Garden, remodeling the bathroom in the Residence and demolishing the East Wing to construct a new ballroom. As someone who knows the White House better than just about anyone, what are your thoughts?
The original name of the building was the president’s house, and that’s where I start from. It’s the president’s home. He was elected to be there. And through the years, there have been a lot of changes that have occurred throughout the White House. The Truman Balcony wasn’t supposed to be added to the White House, and it’s there, and it’s been used by all the presidents since. A swimming pool was put in in the first of the Roosevelt administration, which is now the press briefing room. The tennis courts that were originally there south of the West Wing are now down in the lower south grounds. We put in a jogging track on the south grounds in the Clinton administration.
Representatives of the various administrations in recent history have spoken about the fact that the White House was relatively limited in the number of people that it could have in it by the space that was available, and we were constantly putting up and taking down tents to accommodate larger activities. I think there’s been a universal understanding that if you’re going to have an expanded desire to have more people, then you need a larger space.
What’s your favorite memory from the East Wing?
I’m married to her. My wife was the East Wing receptionist during the latter part of the Nixon administration and into the Ford administration, and we met over the phone while I was working at the White House. That’s quite a memory.
We’re emerging from the longest government shutdown in history. How do shutdowns affect Executive Residence staff?
When we had shutdowns, we made preparations beforehand to determine who needed to be there of the roughly 90 people on the Residence staff. Obviously, if the president is going to live there, the chefs have to be there cooking the meals and the butlers need to be there for the various presidential activities. The engineers who would run the heating, air conditioning, ventilation and take care of the plumbing are obviously essential employees. There were some furloughs, but they stayed on call to come in, in case something happened. As always, the Residence staff is responsive to the president’s schedule and to world events.
You worked for decades under presidents from both parties. Do you have a favorite or a least favorite?
All I can say is they were all wonderful to me and my family. I obviously worked for both, and I have always said that the secret to longevity was non-notoriety. My responsibility was being in charge of the Executive Residence staff to see that we took care of the president and the first lady to the best of our ability within their home.
That’s one of the reasons I wrote my book: To really make the Residence separate from the political West Wing. People today say “the White House said.” Well, I’ve been looking for that mouth for 40 years, and I’ve never found it. I remind people that both the East and West Wings are appendages to the original president’s house, and it was my responsibility to take care of the things that went on in the house and on the grounds.
You’ve had access to some of the president’s most private moments. What days or moments resonate with you the most?
[Sept. 11, 2001,] was an extremely difficult day, and it resonates. The other date that jumps to my mind was when President [Ronald] Reagan and [Soviet President Mikhail] Gorbachev met at the White House and they signed the [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty] in the East Room, and then had the statement to the world from the State Dining Room. I was one of the only people in the room at the time. We had a nice fire going in the State Dining Room fireplace, and I could literally feel the thawing of the Cold War. That was quite emotional.
What is it like for first families on their first and last days at the White House?
First days are usually pretty well-scripted. Over the period of time from when they leave to go down to the Capitol and the time that they come back — about six hours — the White House has been changed over from what was the home of the outgoing president to the home of the incoming president. Their clothes are in the proper places in the closets, their favorite foods and snacks are in the kitchen, all of their furniture that they wanted to bring is redone.
One of the routines that was established many years ago was that the president, the first lady and any family members who are there, one of their last actions is to meet with the Residence staff. We’ve been with them for four years, in most cases, and eight years in some. It’s quite emotional for the staff, especially since as soon as the president walks out of that room and leaves to go to the Capitol, they cease being the staff of the outgoing president and become the staff of the incoming president.
How long does it take for a family to feel like they’re at home at the White House?
We can usually tell when that occurs because when you walk into a room, conversation doesn’t stop. When the new president and his family come in, he has been given a staff of people that worked for the previous president, and it takes a while to get comfortable with that. But the staff is marvelous at being able to adapt to the incoming families.
Is the Lincoln Bedroom haunted? Can you share any ghost stories?
I have many. There were many people on the staff that swore up and down [it is haunted]. I had one young man who had been there for many years, and he was asked one evening by the curator’s office to retrieve a piece of furniture. When he went into the room, he thought he heard something, and as he walked in the door, he said the rocking chair in the corner was moving. He swears that President Abraham Lincoln was there.