Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

On the morning of the recent Presidential Inauguration, I was watching CNN when the CNN reporter interviewed Chris Emery, former White House Usher. He was speaking about the time between the departure of the then president and his family and the arrival of the new president and his family, and how the White House Residence Staff works feverishly to transition the White House from one family to the other. He sounded so knowledgeable and so well spoken I googled to see if he had written a book or memoir about his time as a White House Usher. When I found this book, I purchased the Kindle edition and started reading it right away.

This isn’t my first White House insider book. I read and enjoyed (4 stars) Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies written by long-time White House Usher J. B. West. West’s book was published in 1973 by Penguin, just a few years after his retirement in 1969. It was very interesting and well organized.

After that I read The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Anderson Brower. It was published in 2017 by Harper. Brower’s book was not nearly as well-organized and in my opinion would have benefited from having had a strong editor work on it before publication. In the end, I gave that book 3 stars but in reality it was really more like 2.5 if I’m honest.

In contrast, Emery’s book was self-published in 2017, having been turned down by agents, editors, and publishing house when it was discovered that he would not divulge personal information about the First Families that he served during his tenure at the White House. However, there is personal info in this book, although not really scandal material. It is clear from reading Emery’s book that he had his favorites, chiefly the George H. W. Bush family, and he had his challenges, serving the Reagans and the Clintons. In fact, he was fired while serving as Usher for the Clintons.

My main issue with this book is that it is not really a book. It seems (to me) to be an expanded version of his daily journal or diary. Otherwise, I’m not sure how he could recall such very specific details like “12:02 PM…President Bush bid farewell to the Foleys.” Often, I would be reading the details of a given day in Emery’s life as a White House Usher when it appeared that he was building up to something climatic, when the day’s entry would abruptly end as his shift was over. This combined with multiple grammar issues left me with a less than positive review of this book, with 3 stars that is really 2.5.

The Chris Emery I heard being interviewed live on CNN on Inauguration Day was so well-spoken and professional, it is hard for me to place him as the writer of this book.

His on-camera interview also made me wonder what was the reason for his termination as White House Usher one year after the Clintons moved in. In his book, Emery says the reason given to him was that he made Mrs. Clinton uncomfortable, but no examples or specifics were given to him. It was also suggested that he may have been too chatty with former First Families, such as providing ongoing tech support for Mrs. Barbara Bush. It is clear he had a good relationship with Mrs. Bush as she wrote the forward to his book. Whatever the reason for his termination from a job he said he loved, he had an incredible eight years of daily contact with some of the most important and powerful people in the world.