The White House Butler

By Miss Cellania in Everything Else on Nov 7, 2008 at 6:43 pm

Eugene Allen served eight presidents over three decades as White House Butler. He shared a birthday with Gerald Ford, was personally invited to Jack Kennedy’s funeral, and sat at a state dinner with the Reagans.

He was there while America’s racial history was being remade: the Little Rock school crisis, the 1963 March on Washington, the cities burning, the civil rights bills, the assassinations.

When he started at the White House in 1952, he couldn’t even use the public restrooms when he ventured back to his native Virginia. “We had never had anything,” Mr Allen, 89, recalls of black America at the time. “I was always hoping things would get better.”

Allen retired in 1986. WAtoday has a fascinating account of his years in the White House, a story with a twist that made a Fark forum cry. Link -via Fark

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

DOJ
Nov 7th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
that picture makes him look HUGE!
Ali S.
Nov 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Oh my God. The ending is the saddest thing I’ve read today.
Geekazoid
Nov 7th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Fascinating insights. The ending was reminiscient of Obama’s grandmother.
ted
Nov 7th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Sounded hokey, cornball.

Confused article. Was the butler’s story filler for the civil rights history, or was the civil rights history filler for the butler’s story?

I guess it shows how Americans obsess about colour.
Dianne
Nov 7th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
What a sad, sweet story. Can’t imagine losing somebody after 65 years of marriage. My sympathy to Mr. Allen. His story would make a very interesting documentary/movie.
Lady C
Nov 7th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
/reaches for a tissue.
Allison
Nov 8th, 2008 at 2:35 am
I didn’t imagine I would be that sad over the article. Surprise, surprise.
Notorious M.O.L.
Nov 8th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
There’s a documentary about how the White House is run and maintained that interviews butlers and cooks and all kinds of people. It’s really good, I’ve seen it a couple of times.

There’s a butler in it (though I don’t think it was Mr. Allen) who had been there for decades, who claimed to say to a president, “At the White House, presidents come and go, but butlers are here forever” or something along those lines.

I’ve always loved that quote.
violet
Nov 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Yeah, that ending killed me.

Also, stay classy, Ted.
MENLOHEAVYWEIGHT
Nov 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Wow the best piece I have journalisim I have seen during this whole political season.
marishka
Nov 10th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Hey, Ted–did you notice that this is an article in an Australian newspaper?

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