What Does The First Family Eat? The Scoop From Former WH Chef Henry Haller

No matter who wins the presidential election in November, new occupants will be moving into the White House next January.

And beyond the issues of policy and politics will be food. The White House employs a staff to prepare meals for the president and their family.

For 21 years, starting in 1966, through five administrations, Swiss-born Henry Haller was the White House executive chef .

Get your copy of Henry Haller’s book

In that role Haller had to learn the “right way” to prepare First Families’ favorite dishes, and to keep track of their culinary likes and dislikes.

Not to mention preparing huge meals for major White House events.

After his retirement in 1987 Haller wrote a book that was part memoir, part cookbook. He called it simply The White House Family Cookbook.

In a moment, my 1987 conversation with Henry Haller.

Henry Haller died in 2020.at the age of 97.

White House Memories From FDR Grandson Curtis Roosevelt

Photo by John Stephen Dwyer

In 1933, a three-yearold boy, his older sister and their mother moved in with the boy’s grandparents – who had a very large house in an important city.

Curtis Roosevelt was that young boy. His grandparents were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just recently moved into the White House themselves.

And for much of the next twelve years Curtis – nicknamed Buzzie – was a White House resident.

Get your copy of Curtis Roosevelt’s book

But as he later wrote, it was a double-edged sword living with two such compelling figures as Franklin and Eleanor. Life as a normal child was not an option.

Curtis Roosevelt recalled his early life in the White House in a 2008 book called Too Close to The Sun. I interviewed him twice for this book, once in 2008, again in 2010

So here now, from 2008 and 2010, Curtis Roosevelt.

Curtis Roosevelt died in 2016 at age 86.

From Insider to Author: Susan Ford’s White House Thriller

Susan Ford was 17 when her father, Gerald Ford, became the nation’s 38th president, and she moved into the White House.

The youngest of the Fords’ children, and the only daughter, Susan acclimated to her new surroundings, absorbing details about the history and protocols of the First Family’s home.

And years later, she drew upon that intimate insider’s knowledge to write fiction, a mystery set in the White House, complete with scandal and intrigue. .

Susan Ford at 17

In a nod to her real life profession, and that of her book’s main character, Ford called her book Double Exposure.

And alongside all the elements of a good, page-turning mystery Ford gave her readers some delectable tidbits about the White House and its mysteries.

Get your copy of Susan Ford’s book

So here now, from 2002, Susan Ford.

Susan Ford will be 67 in July. She lives in Texas.

From the White House to the Teenage House: Liz Carpenter’s Unplanned Parenthood

Jenkins Garrett with Liz Carpenter in UTA Library’s Special Collections, 1987

Imagine this scenario: you have lived a full life as a war correspondent, an aide to a president, a press secretary to a First Lady, and a leader in important social movements.

And just as you have retired to what should have been a comfortable life you are suddenly thrust into being a parent again.

That is what really happened to Liz Carpenter, once a key figure in the Lyndon Johnson administration in the 1960s.

But when her brother died in 1993, his three unruly teenagers came to live with Liz Carpenter. And she found herself, at age 73, a mother once again.

In her 1994 book Unplanned Parenthood Carpenter describes the unique challenges she faced. But she also had some wise and insightful thoughts about those Generation X people she was raising, and their peers.

So here now, from 1994, Liz Carpenter.

Liz Carpenter died in 2010. She was 89.


You may also like these episodes:


Benjamin Spock

Betty Friedan


Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Helen Thomas

At most news organizations, the White House beat is a coveted plum assignment.

But it’s a difficult, stressful, and highly competitive job. Most correspondence last only a few years at best.

One exception was UPI correspondent Helen Thomas. She covered the White House for over 50 years, and covered 10 presidents from Kennedy to Obama.

I met her in 1999 when, at the age of 79, she wrote a memoir called Front Row At The White House

So here now from 1999, Helen Thomas.

Helen Thomas died in 2013 at age 92.


You may also like these episodes:

Sam Donaldson
Jim Brady

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Barbara Bush

Sometimes when I interview celebrities, they are exactly the way I thought they would be.

And sometimes, a celebrity would surprise me a little. I was surprised a little by former First Lady Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, our 41st president.

When I met her in 1994, when she published her Memoir, I was unprepared for how simple, straightforward, and folksy Mrs. Bush was. It was like talking to my mom or one of her friends over a cup of coffee.

It’s important to remember that Barbara Bush holds a rare distinction in American history: she is only the second woman, behind Abigail Adams, to be the wife of one president and the mother of another.

Now, one thing you will hear us refer to in this interview is a small plane crashing into the White House lawn. It happened just a couple of days before our interview, when a young man stole a light plane and crash landed on the South Lawn.

Oh, and also, you’ll hear why Barbara Bush quit smoking.

So here now, from 1994, Barbara Bush.

Barbara Bush died in April 2018. She was 92. George H.W. Bush died seven montrhs later at age 94.

Egil Krogh

Egil “Bud” Krogh

Next Monday, December 21, marks the 50th anniversary of a very strange day in White House history.

It was on December 21, 1970 that the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, showed up unannounced at the White House gate, asking for a personal meeting with President Richard M.Nixon.

The man who put that meeting together that day was Nixon aide Egil “Bud” Krogh. Officially, Krogh was head of the White House special investigations unit, later colloquially known as the “Plumbers” – it was the unit assembled to plug leaks of information from the Nixon White House.

In 1994, krogh wrote a book about that famous 1970 meeting. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1994, Egil “Bud” Krogh.

Egil “Bud” Krogh eventually was implicated in the Watergate scandal, and served a short prisoin sentence for his role in it.

He died earlier this year, at age 80.

Sam Donaldson

If Donald Trump thinks he’s getting a rough time from the journalist who cover him at the White House, he’s never met Sam Donaldson.

From 1977 to 1989 — the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan years — Donaldson was was Chief White House correspondent for ABC News.

During those twelve years, Donaldson proved to be a relentless, aggressive reporter, never letting the president get away with a vague, evasive, or unsatisfactory answer to a question.

Ironically, the title of Donaldson’s 1987 book was a phrase he never actually said. The book was called
“Hold On, Mr. President.”

But listen to this interview that’s more than 30 years old and see if it doesn’t have a lot of relevance to what we see going on right now today.

So here now, from 1987, Sam Donaldson.

Sam Donaldson retired from ABC News in 2009. He is 86 now. and serves on the Board of New Mexico First, a bipartisan booster organization.