WASHINGTON (AP) — Gary Walters saw a lot of history in the 37 years he spent working at the White House, where he started as an officer assigned to protect the president and ended as the longest-serving chief usher in history.
The position of chief usher is the top job in the residence, comparable to a general manager, overseeing maintenance, construction and renovation projects, and food service, along with administrative, financial and personnel functions. A staff of about 90 to 100 butlers, housekeepers, cooks, florists, electricians, engineers, plumbers and others report to the chief usher.
It was Walters' job to run the White House on behalf of presidents and first ladies, because, as he says, “They’ve got enough on their plate to deal with.”
He served under Democratic and Republican presidents “and it had nothing to do with politics,” Walters said Monday as he discussed his new book, out Dec. 5, called “White House Memories 1970-2007: Recollections of the Longest-Serving Chief Usher.”
“We served the presidency,” he said.
Walters began his career as an officer in the Executive Protective Service with an assignment to help protect presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He joined the Usher’s Office as an assistant in 1976 and, a decade later, was promoted to chief usher, serving Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Walters retired in 2007.
Here are a few of the stories Walters shared at Monday's event.
The White House had been getting ready for the annual Congressional Picnic the day of the Sept. 11 attacks. Staff were ordered to leave for their safety, but Walters and a half dozen others stayed behind.
The South Lawn was set up with more than 160 tables for the event. Walters said he knew President George W. Bush — who had been at an event in Sarasota, Florida — would want to return to the White House, but the tables blocked the usual landing pad for Marine One, the presidential helicopter.
So Walters and his remaining staff began to clear the lawn by hand, carrying some of the heavy tables to the perimeter to make room for Marine One to touch down.
“I just knew in my heart the president was going to talk” to the American people after the attack, Walters said. Bush later delivered a prime-time, televised address to the nation from the Oval Office.
As he and the staff worked, Walters said he heard the erroneous reports of an explosion at the State Department. Hearing a loud boom at another point, he looked toward the southwest and saw a plume of smoke and fire, from the plane that hit the Pentagon.
They were told yet another plane was in the air. Walters said he believed it was bound for the White House, but it instead crashed into a Pennsylvania field after the passengers fought the hijackers.
“To this day I believe those brave Americans that caused that plane to go down in a field in Shanksville saved my life," Walters said, describing “the most frightening day, obviously, that I'd ever spent at the White House.”
Maureen Reagan — one of President Reagan's daughters — gave out stuffed teddy bears at children's hospitals when she traveled abroad. When a shipment of bears didn't make it in time for one of her trips, Walters put it into storage.
Fast forward to Inauguration Day for President George H.W. Bush. The new president had his entire family with him at the White House that night, including his children and some very bored grandchildren.
Walters remembered the stuffed animals. He went to the warehouse where he had stored the late shipment, got some of the bears and put one on each grandchild's bed.
As Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan prepared to welcome guests to a dinner in the private upstairs quarters of the residence, Walters was horrified to see smoke coming from beneath the doors of the Yellow Oval Room. The fireplace there usually was lit to add to the ambience for the post-dinner entertainment.
But on this particular night, as Walters returned from checking on other rooms on the floor, he found the Yellow Oval engulfed in smoke and a butler using a newspaper to fan it.
Asked if the flue had been opened, the butler told Walters, “I thought it was open.”
Walters grabbed fire utensils to separate the burning logs and reached in and opened the flue. He also opened the door to the Truman Balcony and some windows to air out the room. He yelled down for the police officer stationed at the South Portico to move away as he threw the burning logs over the railing.
Damp towels were put at the foot of the Yellow Oval Room doors to keep in the smoke, while fans were brought in along with air fresheners and scented candles.
Walters then informed the Reagans of the mishap while the staff worked for hours — during cocktails and dinner — to clear the smoke.
“The evening went along as if nothing had happened,” Walters said.
FILE - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, left, along with White House Chief Usher Gary Walters, center, and Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin, right , watch as President Bush departs the White House in Washington in this April 18, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
FILE - First lady Laura Bush, center, introduce from l-r, White House Chef Cris Comerford, White House Social Secretary Lea Berman, and White House Usher Gary Walters,as she hosts a media preview of the 2006 holiday decorations at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
