In The Residence, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower pulls back the curtain on the world’s most famous address. From the mystique of the glamorous Kennedys to the tumult that surrounded Bill and Hillary Clinton during the president’s impeachment to the historic tenure of Barack and Michelle Obama, each new administration brings a unique set of personalities to the White House – and a new set of challenges to the loyal and hardworking people who serve them: the White House residence staff. She sat behind the portrait artist who painted President Reagan, watching every brushstroke.“Downton Abbey meets House of Cards”. If she didn’t like the blazer President Reagan was about to go on camera in, she would tell the head butler to bring him another one, even if it was five minutes beforehand. She would watch him get ready for press conferences-you know that half-moon window in the residence in House of Cards? She would sit by that window-the first ladies can see into the Rose Garden and the Oval Office from there. “She did what she needed to do for her husband. “West Wing staffers called Nancy Reagan ‘Evita,’ but she didn’t care,” Brower says. Some of them told me they couldn’t believe she was going to try and do this again, because it’s so exhausting, and it’s tough for them to watch someone they care about go through this.”ĭON’T worry about being called a b. The people in Hillaryland, as they call it, really believe in her. I interviewed so many East Wing staffers, and Hillary has the most loyal aides of anybody I interviewed.
We don’t tell her anything.” The women around the first ladies protect and love them. “President Nixon’s chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, would go up to Pat Nixon’s aides and say, “Tell the first lady she has to do this.” The aides would correct him: “We ask the first lady.
“Most of these ladies have to stand up for themselves at one point or another,” Brower says. Nancy Reagan didn’t even know where the switches were on the wall.”ĭO build a circle of strong women around yourself. Other families would wait for the ushers to come up and turn off the lights. The Obamas are also the first family to turn off the lights themselves. So she asked the staff to put them so they wouldn’t have to go to bed seeing the work and wake up seeing the work. Every morning they would come out and see these folders first thing, and Michelle hated that. A staffer told me that when the Obamas came to the White House, the residence staff would leave papers for the President and Michelle on a console table outside of their bedroom every night.
Michelle Obama has put a clear line between her public life and personal life. “When she and President Clinton were on the campaign trail in 1992, Hillary would talk to Chelsea every night and do homework with her by fax. “Many first ladies have to balance work and family,” Brower says. DON’T let your work life take over your home life.
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