Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies

Having grown up wealthy, Jackie was well prepared to run a large mansion. Never before had the staff been subjected to such a formal review as they were under her. She learned their talents and put them to good use. Yet she was also grateful to her staff and expressed concern about their treatment and pay. West explains that the White House staff must adjust to each administration and show no lingering loyalties to the previous administration. Mabel Walker, the supervisor of maids, would be the first to go in the Kennedy administration for failing to make such an adjustment. West was tasked with letting people go and did so gently. The personal staff of the Kennedys went on the White House payroll and required more “delicate handling” (190) than the permanent White House staff. Jackie, on the advice of attorneys, requested that West have the staff sign a pledge not to write about their experiences in the White House. When that pledge caused a public backlash, the president asked West to take the blame for it. West did. The president, who was very attuned to press coverage, was appreciative.

Jackie was devoted to her children and designed a play area for them hidden under the trees near the president’s office in the west wing. For his part, the president enjoyed looking out at the “mad scene” (201). Jackie had a trampoline installed there and loved playing with the children. West claims that this was the real Jackie, as he got the sense she was acting in her other roles. She requested deer for the area and then peacocks. At the latter request, West balked and told her they were dangerous. He said enough was enough. Additionally, Jackie had a treehouse built for the children and then requested plants to hide the area from the public. For this request, the White House received criticism from the press and the police, who found it more difficult to watch the gates. However, the order stood. Jackie planned and directed all publicity that the children received to protect them.

The Kennedys entertained lavishly and unlike former presidents, included the vice president and his wife on their guest lists. Jackie planned intimate dinners as well with non-political figures, such as artists and entertainers, to give her husband a break. Their model of entertaining and serving French cuisine was copied by the Washington elite. Jackie was more comfortable in the company of older men than she was with women. She had a formal relationship with her mother and was closest to her father-in-law. Hiring women from the “same social milieu” (208) as herself, she came close to making her social secretary a confidant. West notes that no one was close to her, though.

Every weekend, the Kennedys left the White House. For a time, they went to Glen Ora, a French villa in Virginia. Riding horseback and playing with her children, Jackie loved it there. When the arrangement with the owner fell apart, Jackie resolved to build a house like it. In the meantime, the Kennedys went to Camp David and were surprised at how much they enjoyed the presidential retreat. Sensing that the president was not excited about the home she was building, Jackie asked West about the possibility of selling it. West highlights that Jackie wanted to please her husband. While the couple was formal in public, they were intimate in private. Jackie, who initially disdained politics, was beginning to enjoy the adulation common in her husband’s world.

Seeking to find authentic antiques used in previous administrations, Jackie had West take her to the Fort Washington warehouse. While she did not find furniture there, she was happy to uncover china discarded by past presidents. Jackie established a fine arts committee, which raised money and helped to locate authentic furnishings from the past. Naming two experts, du Pont and M. Boudin, to lead a restoration project, Jackie took “command at every step of the restoration” (219). The two experts were often at loggerheads, as du Pont was concerned with authenticity and Boudin with appearance. Boudin “missed nothing” (222), and the scope of the project thereby expanded. To ensure its funding, Jackie established the White House Historical Association, which was to produce an educational and high-print quality guidebook. Proceeds from that guidebook financed the restoration project. The first curator of the White House, Lorraine Pearce, was tasked with writing the book. When she developed a case of White House-itis, which West and Jackie defined as a big head and “sudden desire for assistants” (227), the new curator was banished to the Department of the Interior to complete the project. The restoration was done gradually for political reasons, but near its completion, Jackie gave a televised tour to CBS, which contributed $10,000 to the project.

Compared to the Eisenhower administration, the Kennedys lightened the tone of entertainment and made it more fun. Cocktails were served before dinner, and smoking was allowed. The Kennedys mingled with guests, and seating was at round tables. There were fewer state dinners, though Jackie’s strong suit was entertaining foreign visitors. Jackie reshaped the social season in 1962, combining dinners and adding receptions. She always included guests from the literary and art worlds. There were very few mishaps at these events. However, West cites one time when a dining chair collapsed while the president was on it. There was fear about his previously injured back, but he was not hurt.

When there was a matter of “extreme delicacy” (237), Jackie contacted West and not her social secretary, Letitia Baldrige. On October 21, 1962, Jackie called West and told him that a dinner-dance might have to be canceled that night. She did not tell him the reason but said he should cancel if he heard an announcement. When West heard that the president would be addressing the nation that night, he handled the cancellation. Throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis, there were top-secret meetings, and the Kennedys dined with friends. Relieved when it was over, the Kennedys resumed entertaining. Her social secretary, with whom Jackie clashed at times, left for another position, and Jackie attended her farewell party. Jackie was ready for some rest as she was expecting a baby.

The biggest expense at the White House was the grounds, and there was relief when the National Park Service took that expense over. During the Kennedy administration, the Rose Garden was completed. The president, who once fretted over the White House budget, by this time realized it was woefully inadequate and paid it little attention. West comments that the Kennedys did not spend more than other administrations, as they cut food costs with streamlined menus, held fewer official functions, and subsidized their projects with private donations.

While Jackie initially disliked the title of first lady, she later came to appreciate its meaning and role. In the spring of 1963, the president was doing well in domestic and international affairs, and planning had begun for his presidential library. Jackie decorated his office, mindful of his comfort and personality. For their wedding anniversary that September, she was having three scrapbooks, works of fine art, created about the Kennedy years. Before she left for the summer, she left instructions for the nursery, which the staff followed. However, word came of the premature birth and then death of the baby, Patrick, in August. West made sure that the nursery was taken apart and restored to the way it was before she left. When she returned on September 23, nothing was said about the baby or the nursery. She then spent six weeks in Greece with her sister. Upon her return, she involved West in a couple of funny episodes. In one case, she had him make rooms look like they were under construction so as to disinvite an overnight guest. In November, West and his wife Zella were invited as guests to a reception for the judiciary. The next day, the Kennedys left for Dallas.

Ever since returning from Greece, Jackie had stayed close to the president. West heard the news that the president had been shot on the radio. By the time he got back to the White House, the president was dead. Jackie left word that she wanted the White House to look as it did when Lincoln was assassinated, with the East Room draped in black cloth. The staff quickly went to work finding appropriate fabric. When Jackie returned with a blood-stained shirt, West stepped out of view. He later accommodated her wishes for a ceremony to be in the East Room, where the president’s body was, and to obtain a mourning veil for her. He accompanied her to the Oval Office, which was already being dismantled. She asked West if he would remain her friend for life, and he nodded. After the first burial at Arlington National Cemetery, she asked West if Johnson and his wife had walked behind the casket. When he said that they had, she gave a sad smile and noted that the Secret Service did not want them to do that. Before she left the White House, she and Robert Kennedy visited the president’s grave every night. She moved to a home in Georgetown and returned for the re-burial of her husband after his permanent gravesite was completed.