Upstairs on the White Home: My Life with the First Women

J. B. West, chief usher of the White Home, directed the operations and upkeep of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—and coordinated its every day life—on the request of the president and his household. He directed state capabilities; deliberate events, weddings and funerals, gardens and playgrounds, and intensive renovations; and, with a big workers, supervised each exercise within the presidential residence. For twenty-eight years, first as assistant to the chief usher, then as chief usher, he witnessed nationwide crises and triumphs, and interacted every day with six consecutive presidents and first girls, in addition to their dad and mom, youngsters and grandchildren, and houseguests—together with pals, family, and heads of state.

 

J. B. West, whom Jackie Kennedy known as “one of the crucial extraordinary males I’ve ever met,” gives an absorbing, one-of-a-kind historical past of life among the many first girls. Alive with anecdotes starting from Eleanor Roosevelt’s fascinating political methods to Jackie Kennedy’s tragic loss and the private struggles of Pat Nixon,
Upstairs on the White Home is a wealthy account of a slice of American historical past that normally stays behind closed doorways.