Eugene Allen, Butler to Presidents, Is Dead at 90
Eugene Allen, a White House butler who served presidents from Harry Truman through Ronald Reagan, died Wednesday in Takoma Park, Md. He was 90 and lived in Washington.
Mr. Allen, who was black, started at the White House in 1952, when racial segregation prohibited him from using public restrooms in his native state, Virginia. When he left the White House in 1986, he had witnessed not only defining moments in the country’s history, but also in America’s civil rights movement.
And on Jan. 20, 2009, he watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the nation’s first black president.
“I never would have believed it,” Mr. Allen told The Post from his seat at the inauguration. “In the 1940s and 1950s, there were so many things in America you just couldn’t do. You wouldn’t even dream that you could dream of a moment like this.”
Mr. Allen began washing dishes and stocking cabinets at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before rising to maître d’hôtel during the Reagan presidency....
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Mr. Allen, who was black, started at the White House in 1952, when racial segregation prohibited him from using public restrooms in his native state, Virginia. When he left the White House in 1986, he had witnessed not only defining moments in the country’s history, but also in America’s civil rights movement.
And on Jan. 20, 2009, he watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the nation’s first black president.
“I never would have believed it,” Mr. Allen told The Post from his seat at the inauguration. “In the 1940s and 1950s, there were so many things in America you just couldn’t do. You wouldn’t even dream that you could dream of a moment like this.”
Mr. Allen began washing dishes and stocking cabinets at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before rising to maître d’hôtel during the Reagan presidency....