east berlin the years that i was there, i mean, i grabbed a map map and i said where exactly were you? we look at it. so yeah, we only learn the stories after the wall fell and that piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle, and then that's essentially how the book was written. >> thank you. >> any other questions? >> i just want to say that when i knew you guys back in college 30 some years ago i thought you were both fearless and now i know why. the message is fantastic. >> thank you, tim. an old friend from college. [laughter] >> great. so if the are no other questions, thank you all for coming.

[applause] spinnakers a look at some of the staff picks in portland, oregon.

>> many of these authors have appeared or will be appearing on booktv or you can watch them on our website, booktv.org. >> up next, booktv sits down with longtime white house employees stewart stevens. mr. stevens a former chandelier and window cleaner at the white house for seven presidents wrote about his experiences in his self publish memoir "the white house chandeliers." how did you get to the white house? >> guest: when i first got back by me being in the military police, i went to number 14 precinct and talk to sergeant about being a police, and had to take a test and they said i passed the test that they wasn't hiring any blacks.

so that didn't work. and then i went to the fire department, and i had to sign a sheet of paper that was longer than your leg of the guys waiting to join the fire department. so i knew right away i can't wait this long. so i went back and i was telling my dad, he said, well, you have to wait, while you're waiting you have to find a job. he said because you are saving a lot of money and you have been over in germany with the boys and you picked up a few bad habits, he said, so you're going to have to get yourself together. so i said yes, sir. i went to work with u.s. restaurant up in northwest and they wanted me to be the busboy, which i never do anything about being at busboy no more than

just washing dishes at home. so i started working in the kitchen washing the pots and the fans and whatnot. and when people finished eating and thinks i would go out, pick up the dishes with my try and bring them back into the kitchen where i could watch them. so i didn't really know, and icing all of this money laying on the table by the plates and things. and i thought it was for me. so i started picking up some of it, putting it in the trade and taking it on back. the girls got to hollering about they wasn't getting no-caps\no caps. one of the girls said i just seen the busboy pick up some tips. so they called and told me and said, you are not supposed to pick up the tips. you just pick up the dishes and wipe off the table and stuff but you don't pick up the tips. so i said yes sir, i said okay.

so i stopped stopped thinking of the tips. somehow it didn't along too good there. so i left there and i went and told dad, i said, i'm not making it in the restaurant, because i'm picking up peoples tips and they're getting excited. i said hey, this this is not going to work. so my two brothers came by, and my dad talked to them and said your brother tried to get a job but he has not been able to get a job. can y'all help him get a job? so my two brothers, they didn't have nothing like a business going, but they was trying to do some work for themselves like making, going after peoples houses or washing windows are going to a store, washing storefronts and things like that. finally, they said well, we will take i them with us and show him how to wash windows. so they did.

they taught me how to wash windows. okay, so not too long after that i was down at the executive office building at 17th and pennsylvania avenue and i was cleaning the front of the building, which was 30 feet high, and the reason i knew because i had six pieces of ladder, and each piece of ladder was six feet. okay, and there was a section of ladder where you could put them together. so i got up there and i started cleaning the glass, and i was doing good because i liked the job pretty good. and i man came out of the building who i didn't know at the time, and he stood back and you watch to me. so when i get down he said, young man, he said, i see you doing a good job washing the windows.

so i said yes yes, sir. i've been doing it a long time. and he said he said, have you bn the military? and i said yes, sir. and he said have you ever been in trouble? and i said no, sir. he said, well, we have a gentleman over at the white house that's washing the windows, but you don't know what he's doing, and said we need somebody to wash the windows that know what they doing. i said i will give you a temporary pass and i'm going to give you a stack of papers for you to take home and fill them out, every line, he said, you fill them out. he said, because the secret service is going to check everything and if we find something wrong, then you can't work at the white house. i wasn't worried about that because i know i hadn't come you know, when i was coming up i might have did a few crooked things but but i was little and nobody knew nothing about it,

didn't have to go to court, nothing like that. didn't mess up my record. i carried my paper so and my mom and dad can they looked over the papers and everything. so i went back to mr. charlie where his office was at, so i asked the secret service, and they came to me and gave me permission to see him. so i went and talked to him and he said okay, what i'm going to do, he said what i'm going to do, i'm going to take it over to the white house and let you meet mr. wilson, the followers washing the windows. i said yes, sir. i get over to the white house, i'm a little nervous, and i see mr. wilson. he was actually getting the party out of the windows that were supposed to hold the glass into the frame. and he didn't know.

he had a razor blade. he was cutting all the patio. so i told him, i said, is to wilson, i mr. stevens. mr. rogers sent me over to help you. because i'm a window washer. and he said, well, i'm glad to see you, he said, because they are trying to make a window washer out of me over here and i'm not a window washer. and he said i'm glad to see you. and i said okay, one thing i said, when you clean the window you can't cut that party out of there because that's what holds the glass in the window. i started working, i think it was the press, the new press building, just art of building a press area. and so my job was to wash all of the windows. okay, so after i got there, had

been there for a while and i started washing them windows and everything but wound up working for the contractors. i was real fast because when you work for contractors they get paid by the work you do and that's how you get paid, by the work that you do. so i was real fast. so i started cleaning all of the windows, cleaning them and clean them fast and everything. and i seen a lot of the guys that worked there. some of them was goofing off, like you are doing that job, so would would go into the locker room playing chess and all that. i wasn't into that. i've got a family here and i've got to support my family. i know if i lose this job, i've i've got to go back in the cold and wash windows pics i said okay. so i went, and he said, mr. wilson said, you do whatever you

want to do. he said, you can have it. he said, because i'm through with it. so he left and i cleaned the windows. and then one day i cleaned all of them windows, so i was just walking around trying to keep from getting into trouble. so i went to mr. rick scott, chief usher, right, chief usher because at one time he was secret service. >> host: mr. stevens, had you gotten your permission at this point to work in the white house? had your paper is going you are all cleared in? >> guest: not at that time. i still had my secret service clearance. i mean, my my temporary task. and i went to mr. scott and i told him, i told him, he had his glasses down over his nose, and he said stevens, what can i i do

for you? i said well, i been used to working fast and getting my work done. i said, and i'm doing it too fast here. i said, so i don't have enough to keep me busy and i don't want to get in no trouble. so he said well, what you got in my? i said, i see a lot of dirty chandeliers that it got cobwebs all over then. i said some of them are so dusty they really don't look like chandeliers. so he says what what, so you wao start trying to clean the chandeliers? so i said yes, sir. i've had a little experience with that because i worked with it chandeliers and i clean some of chandeliers in the he said we will give you a try. and he said let me tell you something, these are the most

expensive chandeliers, he said, so you have to be careful. he say, you get to breaking them, you're gone. so i said yes, sir, i said, no problem. i got the payment that he come up, put up a scaffold for me you know, where the red rug comes to an late into the east room of the white house? the main entrance. that's what i started at, right there. they put up the scaffold and i started cleaning the chandeliers, and there was to maimaine wants, they were the prettiest chandeliers in the house. i really think they was real, real crystal. they were like diamonds. they were flashing all kind of color and everything. so when i started cleaning them, i made up my own solution. a lot of it was 100% ammonia

with no grease, no greasy ammonia, no sudsy ammonia. this was clear ammonia. and i would take a little bit of ammonia comes just a little bit, i cap fall, put it in a hot bucket of water. by the water being hot it made me, made the ammonia get that much harder. because the warmer the water, the stronger the ammonia gets. so i cut up on the scaffold and i started cleaning the chandeliers. and i had a chamois and i had a clean rag, and then they had a dirty rag. not a clean rag, but one that i could lay the crystals on so i i could put them in the bucket and i would take it out of the bucket, and then i would polish

them with my chamois. and then i would lay them on the rag. so after i got so many clean like that, then i would put up some pieces and take down some more pieces. so finally i went all around the chandelier, and then i had the painter come over and move me to the other chandelier. it took me six, seven, eight hours to clean that first chandelier hosting 6000 pieces. >> guest: not that one. hadn't got to them. these were just the two in the hall. i didn't mind working overtime because, like i said, i needed the money for my family. so i started on the other one and i cleaned that one. and when i finished cleaning them, they really was like to diamonds. you could buy a diamond look any better. they were picking up the flag,

the rugs, all of color all around. and i got down and i went and told i was finished, and i got the painter to come up and take the scaffolding down. so i went on back and started washing windows. somebody asked somebody, whose cleaning the chandeliers? and he told them, steve. and the word got all around the white house that steve is cleaning chandeliers and you got to go up and see how they look. and everybody started talking how bright the chandelier was, how clean they were, and come and told me, and, you really did a good job on the chandeliers. but at that time i really did know what i was asking for. but they said sometime, well, what you ask, you might not get it. and really there was so many

chandeliers as only light globes. >> host: what made you write your book, "the white house chandeliers"? why did you write this book? >> guest: to be honest with you, i had all of my pictures and things in the closet in boxes and things, and they had been in there for a while. my wife passed, and my daughter come to me and she said, daddy, what are you going to do with all this stuff works she said, why don't you write a book? >> host: about your white house experience. >> guest: about my white house experience. i said i would like to write a book but, you know, i'm not all that good at writing a book, i said. i i didn't go that far in school. i said i picked up a lot of stuff from working at different place and all that, i said. so i really don't know how to write a book. and sh she said, i'll tell you what, you tell me what happened,

everything, and said i'm going to write it down. so i called my daughter and i talked to her just like him talk and you and i just started telling her everything, and she started writing everything down. and she just kept writing and kept writing. so we started another day, same thing. i went right back to it. i told, she wrote it all down, or typed it down rather. she was typing it down. i did that i guess for about three or four weeks. it took that long to tell her everything i was trying not to leave out nothing, but i left out some things because i didn't think it was prudent to put that in the book. so i left off some things. >> host: what happens at the white house stays at the white house? >> guest: absolutely just like

they guess. what happens in vegas stays in vegas. and speaking of that, when i first started, we had to sign papers to that effect. we cited papers about finances, everything you can think of, medical records, tax papers. we had to sign everything so anytime they wanted to, they could go in and pull your records out. okay, so -- >> host: as a security check? >> guest: as a security check. >> host: you started working when mr. nixon was president do you remember the first time you saw him in the white house? >> guest: yes, sir. the first time i saw them at the white house, he didn't come down early like the other presidents and come down around 6:00. so it was a good while before i seen him. i think he came to the oval office sometime like eight or

9:00 or something. but he came when i was working in the flower room. you come out of the main residence, it's a couple of doors where you go into the flower room. and then you would go into another set of doors to go up the long haul to go into the oval office. okay, so he came through one day, and he didn't seem like he was too friendly of a guy to me when i first met him. i said good morning, mr. president. he, good morning, you know. he never even noticed my belt buckle, you know. but we got along good because he was a nice president. he was. one thing he believed in doing, he asked everybody, he wanted the name of the children.

he wanted to know how old they were and at christmas time he would send presence to everybody, all of my children. he sent them expensive gifts. i mean, robots and all that kind of stuff. and i never really had a good conversation with him, but i had worked in his office were used to go upstairs and study most of the time. he would sit in the room and he was studying, and he wasn't a typo president to be disturbed. the act like he just mostly wanted to be to himself. it wasn't as happy and jolly like the other presidents, but that wasn't for me to judge. my thing was to do my work and get out of his way and get out of the rest of the way, just get out of the way, you know. i seen in a couple of times after that, and he finally got

so he would always stand up and say, good morning. i would say, good morning, mr. president. and i remember this one morning about president carter, he came through 6:00 in the morning like he did every morning, had his bible in his hand go into the oval office. and him and i got to be real good, because he said, good morning. i said, good morning, mr. president. and he said, what's your name next then he looked at my belt buckle, because i cap to come it was brass and i kept that rascal shining. everybody seen it. good morning, steve. i did did know none of their names. i would say hey, my man, how's everything, you know. we got to talking, but anyway, president -- i just said --

>> host: president carter? >> guest: yes. pam and i got to be very good friends. we talked a lot and -- >> host: did it ever occur to you that there are you were standing with the president of united states having a conversation? >> guest: it really hit me when he said i said good morning, mr. president, and he said good morning, steve. that's when it hit me, you know? you are talking to the top people in the united states, and to recognize your name. and that really made me feel good i made sure that i was going to be there when they came to at the time. president reagan and all of them, you know. everybody seen me, they got, they seem my name, so i was a regular person, doing my job,

minding my business, enough work to keep me busy. >> host: you say very kind things about both hillary rodham clinton and nancy reagan. what was your interaction with the first ladies? >> guest: well, the first ladies was the main ones that were noticed the chandeliers first. women, they pick up a lot of stuff that men pass right on by. i've always said to me, myself, how much smarter women are then men. because i seen a lot of smart ladies at the white house. mrs. reagan and ms. clinton, they were a couple of very smart ladies. also ms. barbara bush picture was really a smart lady. the only thing i ever heard bad

about ms. hillary clinton was one night they was in the bed on the second floor. they got big bulletproof glass the slides back and forth. sometimes it's got a little warm in there so they would crack, i don't know whether it was the president or her, but they would slide a little window back and they would crack the window so they could get some air. okay, the secret service was right down under their, and they would go down there talking, hooping and hollering going on, having a good time. it was at night. they made so much noise, ms. hillary, she went to the window and she hollered out the window, she said if you all don't cut noise out, i'm trying to get some sleep, if you don't cut that noise out, you won't be working there no more. and sure enough, i didn't see them on that job no more.

i didn't see them. i don't know where they went. but anyway, ms. reagan, the way i describe her was a person that was very much in love with her husband. i mean very much in love with her husband. i would hear them all the time, they used to have to go out to the diplomatic reception room to go out on the lawn to make a speech is hard to get on the plane or wherever. all went out to the diplomatic reception room. a lot of people thought the white house had a front door and a backdoor well, they didn't have a front door and a backdoor because they were thinking about dignitaries come and they would come in the back door. so they named it the north door and the south door.

and that's where the name come from. beautiful place, and anyway, msy nice lady, but she she kind of state to herself, but she would always speak and laugh. and she just so crazy about ronnie. everything was ronnie. you could hear she talked about ronnie all over the white house because she loved him that much. and he was the same way. you know, thank god that he didn't get really killed when he had the attempt assassination on his life. >> host: were you at the white house that day? >> guest: yes, sir, i was i was there that day. what happened was the president went up to make a speech to someplace up there, and the secret service had all the secret service around him like

they normally do. anyway, when he came out, hinckley, two or three shots, and secret service guys right away, they grabbed the president, pushed him into the limousine. other secret service guys, they got hinckley, and they had to get -- forgot to remember the one who got shot in the head. >> host: press secretary brady. >> guest: brady. >> host: where were you at the white house that day? >> guest: i was at the white house that they doing windows. i don't remember what part but i heard it from the ushers and everything about the president, and attempt assassination on president reagan. so when i really was told everything that went on, because

when the secret service grabbed him and put you into the automobile, they pushed him too hard and he wanted to know why are you pushing me so hard? and they were trying to hurry up and get out of there. you know, when president in any kind of danger, right away they get them and the russian right out of there, with no problem. so what they did was, he said i want to go back to the white house. and one of the secret service guys noticed that he had some blood running out of his nose pick and they told him, mr. president, we are not taking you back to the white house. he said we're taking you to george washington hospital. they took him to george washington hospital and the examined him come with examination, you know, being present, this examination you could get. they found out he had a little bullet somewhere in his lungs.

and they told him that he is going to have to have surgery. .. >> what was it like in the white house while all this was going on? >> everybody was scared to death . like i said, it was not one happy family. everybody knew everybody.

everybody concentrated on doing things for the president but whatever the president wanted, he got it. we were right there. he got everything he needed, everybody was right there doing whatever he needed . when patricia got married in the rose garden and i tell you, we went wild but anyway, let me get back to this story. anyway, we rushed him to the hospital and doctors found out he had to have emergency surgery and miss reagan, she had came in and she had to step back and he told me, he said i'm going to be all right. he said i'm going to be all right. so he looked up at the doctors that were getting ready to perform surgery and he just look up at them and said are you all democrats or republicans?

and they all kind of smiled and they went on with their work. so after they did the surgery and everything, he stayed in the hospital for a day or two and nobody knew just how serious it was. it was so close to him losing his life. >> the remember when he came back to the white house? >> i do, i surely do. i remember when he came back, everybody welcomed him. we all were standing outside and we all were hollering for him. he was tough, man. he was a movie star. he just came in like he was all right. they had a wheelchair, rolled him in the door and he went upthose stairs and he was upstairs for a few days and he had everybody outside clapping and hollering toward him . he stood up at the window and was just waving at them which he wasn't supposed to be up out of the bed but you know

mister stevens, iunderstand you're a pretty good horseshoe player. >> i wouldn't say that . [laughter] i knew president bush. he was such a nice person. and with him having the kind of resume he had, the man had done just about everything and he put up a bill that passed around that he was going to have a horseshoe pitch made and he wanted a horseshoe pitch made and it was supposed to be made the right distance and the pegs are supposed to be the right distance like it's supposed to be. right away he had a horseshoe pit made and it was over by the swimming pool because they had moved the swimming pool where it used to be in the old place where president

, president ... that's okay, it'll come to me and i'll go on area. he had a horseshoe pit made perfect. and he wanted everybody to get a partner. and him andhis son were going to meet him over at the horseshoe pit . and they were going to go best man wins. don't be worried about me being president, you pick your partner for the pit and whoever one gave him a present. i went around and i picked up a guy in the carpentry, his name was matthew kiel and he told me that steve, i pitched horseshoe when i was down in virginia . and i said i've pitched a little bit but i'm not that good.

he said we will get him. so i said okay. everybody else, all the guys, i can't remember whether any women was involved. i don't think any women were involved. all of the men picked their partners and we went over and practiced a day or two and then we were ready. i'm trying to think, ibelieve him and george w were partners . and a couple the guys got up there and they were gone. they knocked him off right away. then lamont came and they got rid of them, they were good together so my partner and i, we went over there. and the first horseshoe, first one i threw the pay and it leaned up against the pay where you are supposed toget

three points i think, something like that and my partner, keith rode a ringer . so we had them. we know we are going to get this guy.and when they got the horseshoe, they pitched five after five,both of them . i mean, they just shut us down. they shut us out. and we just felt bad because we were shut out that we felt good that hey, mister president, you know? >> you are playing horseshoe with the president of the united states? >> i guess that's why we didn't do nothing. we were such a good president and he was into horseshoes. when he was in texas, he sent or somebody down to come to texas to come down to texas to play horseshoes with him. he really loved playing horseshoes. >> those are just a couple stories you've included in "the white house chandeliers: my experienes while working

for seven u.s. presidents". we are here in your home in the suburbs of washington. you've got quite a museumof white house memorabilia. >> yes sir. >> where did you collect them, when did you get it? >> starting from president nixon . afterevery year , all of the house resident staff, they got presents from the president and i got four from each president and only served one time. i've got eight from the other presidents that served two terms which made me have more , so much more. and they gave us everything, man. the bose that said president and if you get a chance, you look at it.

you got the name, the date and everything and there were a lot of them joined some in the year. >> looking in your collection, i'm seeing personal notes from richard nixon, ronald reagan, george clinton, hillary rodham clinton just to name a few. >> yes, and i got to know the presidents very well. going back and forth in the hallway, sometimes they would come down and i would be up on the latter and they would wear light globes from one end of the hallway down to the other end and it was my responsibility to make sure they were clean every monday. sometimes they would come down and i get off the ladder and wouldn't them, and respect them, good morning mister president and i go back up and do my work.

but jimmy carter, president clinton, he was very special because when i lost my mother and he came downstairs, he went to the oval office and i spoke to him and he came to me and he said steve, i heard that you lost your mother. and he said yes, my sympathy, i've been there. and same thing happened when i lost my father which, he had to later. hecame to me and said the same thing . and he sends me my birthday every birthday he sends me a car. i don't know, i got about 10 or 15 of those things every birthday, he would send me one and president carter, he was taking the case. this is what happened. most of us at the white house

had never been to camp david. i was one of them. never been to camp david, i'd heard a lot about it but i knew it was the presidents retreat there would where they would go off and play golf and enjoy themselves and not have to worry about the country too much, i guess they had all the things with them but people were just enjoying themselves. so one sunday, we were getting ready for christmas and we had 13 days to go ahead and get ready for christmas, put up christmas trees, keep the place clean. i cleaned the east room from ceiling to floor. four of them. and i cleaned all of the windows and had shined them and rolled them out. they went from one wall all the way down to the other wall.

same thing on the other side and that was my responsibility to keep allthe mirrors clean , even up where they had the gymnasium. they had windows all over the place because they were working out in the gym. getting back to presidents carter, on one sunday we got the order that president carter had told them to get everybody ready, he was going to take them to camp david for a dinner. man, we were kind of excited. all of us sat down and left that work, left it alone. nobody had a chance to wash off for taking a bath or nothing. we got our tuxedos and we put on tux egos and we were sharp . because we had been working and sweating getting ready for the day and there were a

lot of parties going on so he took us to camp david and we got up and introduced all of us and we walked around and everything.they had all the tables, big round tables set up with all of the trimmings, just like leaving we were professionals. a lot of us didn't know nothing about five or six worked glass and eight or nine pieces of silverware, we didn't knownothing about that, which goes first . so anyway, we all got down and we all had separate tables. i think i think six or eight was still at thetable . and president carter got up and he asked the blessing over the food and then the butlers went around pulling out the wine and the glasses. so everybody had a nice glass and he poured one around and

poured out the wine,everybody , we were just so happy and laughing and smiling so when they got the president carter, the butler was kind of new and he put wine into president carter's glass and president carter, he stood up and he said steve, i stood up. and he said you know i don't drink wine. he said, would you like to have mine? i said yes sir mister president so he handed me a glass of wine and i had two glasses of winein my hand . everybody, i said what? i drank my half a glass so i had one more left and i was taking my time wheni sat down and started eating, i sat down and set some wine , finally it was gone then we had a glass of cold ice water on the table and all kinds of

dessert and everything and we had a fabulous time so when we got back to the white house, all of the guys said steve, they went in through the, ... through the south portico which is a green door that goes all the way out around the reception room and the guys tell me he says steve, we've are really surprised and ashamed. i said what are you talking about? >> he said, you drank the presidents wine. i said he offered it to me, you never tell a president no . he said you know, you smart? i said no, younever tell a president no . but that's why i drank the wine and it was good wine and i wasn't ready to drink some more but we had a good time and we left there and we went

back to the white house, taking off our tuxedos and all that stuff, got back in our regular clothes and i went back up on the scaffold because i had to finish chandeliers and everybody else was hanging christmas leaves and putting up the christmas tree and all that kind of stuff but it was a wonderful experience. i just can't tell you how wonderful it was. >> the book is called "the white house chandeliers: my experienes while working for seven u.s. presidents", my experiences while working for seven us presidents. mister stevens worked at the white house from 1970 to 2002 . where can people find the book? >> well, we have it on our website which is stuart stevens senior .com. and we also have it