The Residence: Inside The Private World Of The White House Quotes
"Living in the White House is like being on the stage, where tragedies and comedies play alternately."
"The transformation in the household from one Administration to another is as sudden as death."
"It’s the only time I ever had a job quit me."
"The White House is the top of the top. If it's not the top at the White House, when is it going to be the top?"
"You have walked through exactly the same space as every president since John Adams was president."
"The last thing the staff ever wants is to feel useless."
"They really, really do want to do what they do. They don’t want to just stand there."
"In the morning you serve breakfast to a family with whom you have spent years. At noon that family is gone out of your life and here are new faces, new dispositions, and new likes and dislikes."
"We were looking at what was going on at the Lincoln Memorial before the inauguration. Congratulations on becoming president."
"When I called him ‘Barack’ he smiled. I went to their wedding, I’ve met [Michelle’s] dad, he hasn’t changed with me."
"President and Mrs. Kennedy may have been young, and personal friends from earlier times, but a new aura of great dignity surrounded them now."
"It’s like, ‘Wow.’ He didn’t realize that there were that many people just to take care of the house."
"I called the Usher’s Office if I had questions about anything."
"There’s a nickname for every hall, there’s a nickname for every room."
"I think the White House staff has really figured out how to accommodate families and make them feel as normal as possible."
"Oh, I haven’t seen you yet," Mrs. Bush told her.
"Oh, this is not a good enough picture. That’s why I don’t recognize you!" Bush teased her.
"I’d like to meet all the staff today," she told him.
"Is that you, Bruce? I’m here in the Lincoln Bedroom," the president called out.
"But the good news, Mrs. Bush, the good news, Mrs. Clinton, is, we saved five hundred dollars."
"He ordered a Coke and asked Bruce to open a window to let the cold night air in."
"It’s the only time I ever had a job quit me: the physical plan was the same, all the pots and pans were the same, but you didn’t know your job anymore."
"Susan Ford remembers the staff 'gently nudging' her when she was behaving inappropriately."
"President Carter’s mother, Lillian, was known to enjoy her bourbon."
"The Clintons changed the White House phone system to ensure privacy."
"Each morning, the president is awakened by a phone call from the White House operators."
"The Clintons’ preoccupation with secrecy made relations with the staff 'chaotic'."
"Lyndon Johnson had a custom shower installed at the White House with intense water pressure."
"The residence staff's pay is based on experience level and the complexity of the job."
"Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier turned down high-paying jobs to work at the White House."
"Hillary Clinton was very sympathetic to working women."
"The Clintons were 'about the most paranoid people I’d ever seen in my life'."
"We on the household staff already knew how to make the first families safe and comfortable—that was our job. What did this man plan to do?"
"There was something about Haldeman and Ehrlichman, that you could look at them and you knew that they would never have respect for a person like you."
"The Nixons were formal with the staff, but they were kind—and their kindness made watching the president’s slow unraveling so painful."
"Nixon asked Blair if he would play with him, and the two of them bowled until two o’clock in the morning."
"The president’s secretary gave me the flight map," Pierce recalled, and he studied it carefully, "trying to figure out what I would see, what I would recognize."
"It was dead silence in that room. I mean, it was creepy silent."
"We are the first African American family to occupy this residence over the years."
"Our joint federal–local effort must pursue poverty, pursue it wherever it exists."
"The staff is discreet, but they’re also human."
"The president liked swimming nude in the heated indoor White House pool."
"The help never asks someone directly whether they have taken a piece of china or silverware. They usually shame them into handing it over by playing dumb and asking politely."
"When Jackie was away, riding the elevator was hazardous duty," Bryant recalled.
"Sometimes, what the first family wants is mundane and frustrating for the skilled chefs, especially when there are kids living in the residence."
"It’s hard to be in the position of a butler, or someone like that, if the person who you’re trying to serve is very self-conscious about the fact that you’re there."
"For all the fancy titles, we’re domestic staff, we need to remember our place," said Scheib.
"Mr. West, will you be my friend for life?" the first lady, who had seemed to have it all just a day earlier, pleaded.
"She was an extremely quick study, and as everyone knows now she is very, very bright," Scheib said.
"We’ve got a job, we’ve got to do it," Cliber said.
"This is what working at the White House is. Some will talk about, ‘I made this cake,’ or ‘I made that soup,’ or ‘I arranged these flowers.’ That’s not what the job is."
"They were just so nice to see. You didn’t think this would ever happen in the White House."
"Nobody had ever been through that." - Bill Cliber on the aftermath of 9/11.
"If you’re going to be there, you have to understand there’s a target on the back of every person who works at the White House." - Scheib on the risks faced by household workers.
"It’s where I belong." - Roland Mesnier on his dedication to his job at the White House.
"They make every administration feel they love them best." - Luci Baines Johnson on the residence staff's loyalty.
"He made them laugh. He cheered them up. He brightened their days." - Laura Bush on James Ramsey's impact.
"They devoted their careers to taking care of the first family and they are far from the quintessential self-serving political operatives in this town." - Reflecting on the residence workers.
"We impressed the queen enough that she invited me and a couple of my staffers to Buckingham Palace to see how the Brits do it." - Admiral Stephen Rochon on a memorable encounter.
"Everything is perfect and everyone is beautiful and elegant, because they are part of the most beautiful and elegant setting in the world." - Describing the atmosphere at a state dinner.
"They were especially attentive during that time because they were concerned." - Rosalynn Carter on the staff's support during the Iran hostage crisis.
"The man could tell a story, and his opinions on unfolding events, from politics to sports, were often hilarious." - President Clinton on James Ramsey.