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Bush blew a kiss as he left the White House for the final time as president, the residence staff had sprung into action. “And on that day with the flurry of activity, there really is no opportunity to take it in before extending a warm welcome to the newly sworn-in president and family.” By the time President George W. “The First Family were amazing to serve and learn from, generous and caring to us all,” she said. “As a retired military officer, I’m not supposed to be tearing up, but I did - and so did the staff.”Īngella Reid, chief usher during the Obama-to-Trump transfer, said in an email that she moved the goodbye gathering up a few days so the Obamas could spend more time with the staff than they would have during the time crunch on Inauguration Day. “President Bush was pretty much in tears when he addressed the staff,” Rochon said of the younger Bush. Typically about 8:30 a.m., the staff gathers in the State Dining Room to say goodbye to the first family. “We always remember that the house still belongs to the current president up until the time the new person raises their hand and takes the oath,” said former chief usher Stephen Rochon, a Coast Guard rear admiral who became chief usher after Walters in 2007. A bit of moving work may begin early and inconspicuously, but no one on the residence staff wants to appear to be shooing the first family out the door. In preparation for Inauguration Day, a few items for the new family are sometimes stored in out-of-the-way places on the ground floor such as the China Room.
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Those jobs may be a bit less demanding this year, with fewer events on the agenda. The kitchen staffers usually are among the very few permanent employees who are not pulled into moving duty, because they are already scrambling to create breakfast, the traditional congressional coffee, afternoon snacks, dinner for who-knows-how-many and preparations for the next day’s social events. They will have to schlep their own boxes to their new offices in the East and West wings. The political staffers change with the president, and their duties do not involve making his bed or arranging his sock drawer. They also don’t discuss the inner goings-on at the residence, so we may not know for years exactly how this very unusual transfer of families unfolds. They often stay for decades through administrations of both parties, and they are ferociously discreet.
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Residence staffers take care of the daily needs of the first family. To be clear, we are talking about the White House residence staff, not the political and administrative staff. (Edward Clark/White House Historical Association) Eisenhower and first lady Mamie Eisenhower say goodbye to the residence staff the day of President John F. some sleep on cots at their workstations - ready to execute the day’s detailed plan devised by the chief usher.Īlthough this will be Chief Usher Timothy Harleth’s first transition, staff turnover at the residence is rare, so most other White House employees will have done this dance at least once before. The 90-plus permanent White House staffers and a few trusted contractors show up around 4 a.m. Regardless of the circumstances, the White House staff still will have to do an enormous amount of work in a few short hours. A Trump official said the president will leave Washington early on Wednesday, which will make Trump the first president to boycott his successor’s swearing-in since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. (David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)Īnd Trump, who never conceded that he lost the election, made none of the customary overtures to Biden, which upends the usual inaugural morning schedule. 20, 2009, his family’s belongings were unloaded at the White House. While Barack Obama was being sworn in as the 44th president on Jan. Recently, security protocols were tightened because of threats of violence at and around the Capitol, the scene of a deadly pro-Trump riot on Jan. The hectic process is organized around the traditional Inauguration Day schedule, but this year’s transfer will be extremely nontraditional.įirst, the pandemic has caused many of the usual inaugural events to be scaled back or eliminated, and it makes cleaning and disinfecting more critical. “It’s energizing,” said Ann Stock, who saw the transfer up close as the Clintons’ social secretary, “but absolutely exhausting.” “I call it organized chaos,” said Gary Walters, who choreographed several transfers of families in his 21 years as the White House chief usher. The most frenzied American ritual you’ve never seen is called the “transfer of families,” a five-hour tsunami of activity that will transform President Trump’s home into President Biden’s.
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Editor’s note: This story was originally published in January 2017 and has been updated for the upcoming administration change.