In the life of the President, there are few private moments. Only the staff of their private residence in the East Wing is there during these private moments.
In her new book “The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House,” Kate Andersen Brower shares the many stories that these White House workers have accumulated through more than 50 years of presidential history.
Brower sat down with Chuck Todd on NBC’s PRESS Pass to discuss writing the book. When asked about Laura Dowling’s recent unceremonious resignation from her post as White House Chief Florist, Brower speculated that the First Lady was involved, “Nobody who is a Chief Florist, Chief Chef, in one of those top positions would be let go or leave suddenly without her knowing about it.”
Brower also suggested that it was not a decision the Chief Florist would have made on her own, saying, “Certainly the First Lady had an issue with either the aesthetic or the management.”
When President Obama first walked into the White House, Brower said that the staff remained in awe, “They absolutely never would have believed they’d be serving an African American President.”
Brower also discussed interviews with the workers who cleaned the blood out of President Clinton’s bed, suggesting that First Lady Hillary Clinton had “clocked him” with a book out of frustration during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Brower noted, “President Clinton was made to sleep on the sofa in the sitting room attached to their bedroom and a lot of the women on staff said ‘good for her.’”
“It’s been an adventure, really, getting to know these people,” Brower said, “They have a protective feeling toward the first family.”
- Matthew Fried