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♪ >> next on american history tv, we look at the history of white house transitions with gary walters, former white house chief usher. he talks about the work of the white house staff behind the

scenes between the election of a new president and inauguration day. this is about 30 minutes. former whiters, house chief usher. when did you begin to think about the events that were going to unfold on january 20 with the inauguration of a new president? to begin a: we had year and a half before that because of the budget issues. we have to prepare for the possibility of a change in administration, even with the sitting president. our procedures began down the additionalutting money and for inaugural activities which includes things like packing up one family, getting ready to receive a new family, and the overtime associated with that. so we begin a year and a half early for the budget cycle. went to the next summer, gathering information as each of the candidates again to announce

they will be running. we started to gather information that we could gain on the media, whether it be television or newspapers or magazines and articles about what are their favored likes and dislikes, family members and friends. , we have thesummer republican and democratic conventions and a presidential candidate was selected, and we would start getting rid of all the information on the other candidates and have the information and start gathering more intently the information on ,he two primary candidates republican and democratic. we would go from there and continue to gather information until election day. over the years, you have had a unique, personal, first-hand account.

let's talk about you. when did you first go to the white house and how did your job involves -- evolve? started in the secret service. that was in 1970. --1975, 1 of the archers ushers was leaving the position. it became open. activities inhe the executive residence and people who work there. i had finished my college degree in business and he was looking for someone who could oversee the budget. i was in the right place in the right time, and i was chosen by the chief usher to join the ushers. when he decided to retire 10 years later in 1986, he recommended me to president and mrs. reagan.

let's talk about 1976-1977. you had the only appointed president, gerald ford, losing in one of the closest elections in history, and for the first time you had to prepare for a president,as rent -- with a young daughter. mr. walters: it is true. the chief usher gave us our responsibilities. rather information, put together things. i was the new guy on the block and try to learn as much as i -- i could. on inaugural day, i arrived at 3:00 in the morning just to see what would go on. dayctual job on inaugural when the president-elect went down to the capital to take the oath of office, was to go across the street to blair house and

bring the carter's cat from the house. that was one of my primary jobs. there is a lot that goes on in the preparation leading up to inaugural day. as i said, gathering information, the chief usher talks to the first family, principally the first lady about how she would like house on the first day there. bethe activities they will -- that will be associated with that day. the carter's invited everyone who marched in the parade to come to the white house over the next three days. they greeted them and shook hands with everyone from the parade. on inaugural evening, you have to plan for the family activities before they're going out to the inaugural balls. the transition between watching the inaugural parade in the going out to the balls that evening. it will have additional family members there, preparing meals for them and getting them ready

for the balls. time inpretty active the white house. host: we have this great picture of the north portico entrance of the white house. one of two formal entrances. did it surprise you that the white house is not quite as big as people might think it is? television hasn't given the impression, starting poor -- kennedy's tour that it is larger than it is. i think most people have a misconception on the size. the living quarters are large for a family. when you have a family like the carter's had, a head to of their sons move in with their wives and we had a baby born in the white house just one month after

inaugural day. at house that large can be intimidating for some families, but it is not as large as it appears on television. host: let's talk about the w tours. what happens on that day? where typically does the first lady take the incoming first lady? memory, it: to my was generally a southport coke greeting, they go up into the private quarters, where they about children. if there will be children involved. and mrs. trump, i'm sure they spoke about raising a child in the environment of the white house. walkme point, they also around the second floor, possibly the third floor to show

them what their new home is going to be like, what changes they can make to the different areas, how they can use those ands to their once -- wants needs. and i believe mrs. obama went down to the historic rooms, the east room, the state dining room, the green room, to give a sense of history. host: mrs. obama had redone the state dining room, laura bush redid the lincoln bedroom. either constraints as to what a president and first lady can or cannot do to the white house? as far as physical constraints, there are none. they can do whatever they want. they could stop tours if they wanted to. i don't think any president or first lady would want to. prematurefloor is

stork. i think that was well-established with mrs. kennedy's efforts. in the private quarters, there are traditional guest bedrooms on the second floor at the east end of the building. the lincoln and queens bedrooms. they are the traditional guest bedrooms with the family has personal guest there. used inr rooms can be any way the first family desires. it is their home. as well as the third floor. during the years different family members have resided there. as i said, president carter had his sons and their wives there. mrs. obama's mother lives on the third floor area. those are private areas for the family and they get used the way the family wishes to. host: the tradition -- transition

-- what is going on in the white house? mr. walters: the first thing is the holidays. the president just left for hawaii, but in the evening, there are the candlelight tours for the public that go on. through the month of december, the actual activities at the white house are the traditional activities. when the president returns, there will be thank you's for the people who helped him during the previous classroom or eight years -- the previous four or eight years. on inauguration day, the presidential parade. immediately after the inauguration day, the incoming president will probably do receptions or dinners or whatever he wants to have for whoever helped him it get elected to office. the staff is making preparations for the move out of one family

and the move in of another family. the fitting first family, it is their home until noon on inaugural day. the staff makes every effort to make sure they are not slighted in any way. when the sitting president andy president-elect and their families depart from the north portico and head down to capitol hill, that is when things get a little crazy. belongings are moved out and another families belongings are moved in with the intense to have the house established -- with the intent to have the house established by the time they are finished up intoe, that they move something they are comfortable with. the piece of furniture, pieces of artwork. all of those things are done with a walk in the door. there are no boxes in the corner that happened been unpacked.

of course, people always have a great interest in what the president does in the oval office. that also takes place on inaugural day. soon after very coming back from the inaugural parade, like to go over to their office, which has been converted into their office. steve: if you could go into some detail -- organized chaos requires a lot of planning. walk us through what the staff is doing on january 19 and what happens at noon or actually, before noon, when the president departs for the capital. hopefully the staff had the opportunity to go home and get a good nights rest. that doesn't always occur. but, the hope is that everything is in place.

the next day, the staff has been divided into that group responsible for moving family out and that group responsible for moving a family in. different elevators, one for out, one for in. those things are pretty decided. a day when you are trying to get everyone organized. there is no time for decisions to be made that are something that hasn't been decided. it all has to be choreographed. there is a limited time, only about five hours, maybe six. everything is choreographed. everyonehas a job, goes and does those jobs. it is similar to an anthill. it looks like it is chaos but actually, it is extremely well-organized.

people are packing things, unpacking things. people are placing things, taking things away. if furniture is being brought in from the warehouse, that is requisitioned overnight, but not on the white house grounds. it is brought in early in the morning in trucks that have been escorted by the security. that haven'tthings gone out, furnishings, paintings, last-minute clothing, that is also taking care of by a group of people that has been designated to do that. it is a very organized way that we go about it. it is very choreographed. it is hard to explain the amount of effort that goes into that by everybody that is all. the other thing is, we don't use people from the outside. there are not hundreds of people involved. privacy,irst family's

we only use the resident staff and the few people who may have been there for years who help us when we have state dinners. will we have six brothers so obviously we have to call in additional people -- we only have six butlers. it is a privacy issue. we don't need a lot of people who were there that want to volunteer because, to be quite honest, they get in the way. i have had numerous requests over the years wrapping the press comment. can't we take a picture here or there? the answer is no, we don't have time for that. we don't have time to move things around to accommodate light and the people who were there who don't have a specific purpose in the move. there people who say, we want this over the air or we

want this next to that window? be, buters: there could i would hope that will be decided in the weeks before the move. people look at the floor plan and the various items and have an idea where those things will be placed. we have those decisions made well before and not-year-old day. familiesquently, the bring small pieces of furniture of their own but they use theiture that has been in white house inventory for years. some things are moved out, other things are moved in. in the transition from the -- whento the bushes the bushes came in, they had a very large family. mrs. bush was very concerned

that the residents would have to bring in 12 additional men to convert some of the rooms that had been sitting rooms into rooms for the bush family. she had great concerns that we would be able to do it. she walked through and things were done, she was very happy. she knew what she wanted but it was just a concern of the amount of things that had to be moved in. antique beds, mattresses, , putting art on the wall, moving books. quite frequently, presidents moving with lots of reading material. mrs. bush came with her own set of books and wanted to know where those should be placed. the resident staff is a very professional group and they have

been through this before. not to say this is easy because it is not, but it is well-planned leading up to inaugural day. reallyone thing that optimize the transfer of power , 1981.uary 20 you had jimmy carter, still trying to release the hostages, up all night on the phone. here, you had very much a working white house until noon when ronald reagan took over on that day. mr. walters: i was there that night. i had taken over some beverages during the course of the evening because everyone else was gone. staff had pretty much departed. operation was obviously taking place with the national security council, that the majority of the staff had already moved on and moved out.

there was a lot going on. like i said, i took over beverages. waterjews, coffee, tea, ce,orrin hatch -- orange jui coffee, tea, water. none of us knew what was going to occur leading up to inaugural day. were they going to leave, were they not going to leave? it was very intense all night. side, president reagan, i am sure he was getting briefings also. of course, he was over at blair house. to make things as comfortable as possible and maintain the fact that the white house was still a sitting president's house until noon.

we were able to accomplish our small part of it. i certainly can't speak for the people who work so hard trying to get the hostages released. it just shows that the white house is an active place and ont inaugural moment of noon inauguration day, the power shifts. up until then, the sitting president is still in power. you have seen so much over the years and so many stories. what happened in 1981 is one of those stories. does anything in regard to this transfer of power stand out in your mind? the things: i think that most people talk about and that i am aware of is that is a smooth transition periods is very seldom if at all that there is any acrimony.

certainly, the way our government operates is integral to what happens in the world. the fact that we have this --derful transition of power peaceful, people are talking to each other walking not of those doors as they are going down to the capital, it is a remarkable thing that this country does. we have had a president in and yet,r eight years it is going to change very smoothly on inaugural day. steve: from jimmy carter to barack obama, you were there when the incoming president walks into the white house for the first time as president of the united states. what do you think is going through their mind and what do you think will be going to donald trump's mind? , afterters: i think standing in front of the capital and giving the inaugural address

, and standing in that inaugural parade, that there is almost the sense of relief walking into the portico doors. now, you are for once, on that day, out of the public eye for just a moment. i had the great honor of being able to walk up to the president and say, "mr. president, welcome to your home." that is our choice. we want to be there and make sure that the president understands that this is his home, he and his family. this is not just a house that the american people alone, but this is for the next few years, his home. the staff will have been with the previous president and to eight years and be fond of them.

now there are those few short hours where there is a transition. the long-term staff has served --h publicans and democrats both republicans and democrats. steve: a long day for you because they often have the ba lls that go until 1:00 2:00 in the morning. when did you get to bed? mr. walters: i didn't. mrs. clinton asked us to do something with chelsea and her friends that were going to be there while they were off at the balls. we came up with a sophisticated pizza party that also had a scavenger hunt for the young required them to go .o all floors of the residents,

it was quite an interesting time for the young people, running around, some of them in their bare feet, looking for historical artifacts. that party ended around midnight , i think, and then we waited up for the president and first lady to come back to be there to answer any questions they had nexthat night or that morning. the next morning, i think it was widely said that they look at each other and said, "what do we do next?" i think that goes for all of the families that are there. afterlly, on that morning january 20, they are in a place that they are comfortable. steve: what needs to be done the first week or two of any incoming administration? mr. walters: it depends on what the family wishes to accomplish in that first period.

hopefully most of the initial declaration has been done, but there may be some additional things, thoughts about having additional carpets done, the painting of the room because they have been eight years in one color so maybe they want to change the color. events thaty is the they are going to follow on. they will be some thank you parties that the president will do. the president and mrs. carter had the whole inaugural parade for three days after the election. early in february, the president usually has the 50 governors in for a state dinner type of events. there will be meetings, swearing in its of the white house staff. we don't slow down, it is just the changing administration. of the presidency goes

on and the work of the staff to support him goes on. steve: i wanted to relate to a story on how quickly the staff has to react to international events. 11,he morning of september 2001, you are preparing for a congressional barbecue. mr. walters: that is correct. weeks spent about three on the barbecue that would be held on the white house south grounds that evening for the senate, house, president's senior staff. there were chuckwagon's, picnic tables, barbecue facilities on the lawn. i went out in the morning just bush, 9:00 to escort mrs. who was actually going down to congress to testify before senator kennedy's committee on

childhood education. as she was put in the car, her agent said, there has been a terrible accident in new york, the plane has flown into the world trade center's. said, youto me and want to go in and -- you ought to go in and see what is going on. he said with an understanding that he and i had that there was something more there than just an accident. point aftert some -- ing to some of my staff went in, went up to my office, and i walked into my office. i saw a plane on the television fly into new york. thought, how do i get that on camera so quickly -- how did

they get that on camera so quickly? they said it was a second plane. i sat down and immediately call the social secretary and told her that i was canceling the and the barbecue. who were thereup from texas to do this barbecue. we had to cancel that. we had to make arrangements for stopping the part-time butlers that were going to come in and thatserve the 2000 people were going to be there. it was just a terrifying day on the south grounds. i think everyone has seen the pictures of the police coming by and telling everyone to evacuate the white house and get out. i was able to keep seven men

with me on the south grounds. i knew the president was coming back to the white house. there was no doubt my mind. couldn't go to the pentagon because the pentagon helicopter pad was no longer available. the couldn't go to the vice president's residence. we stayed there all day and clean the picnic tables off and got ready for the president's returned. he did get their later that night after flying in air force one over a good portion of the country. he went into the oval office and gave a speech to the american people. an ongoing difficult security situation in the next few days at the white house because nobody knew if we were going to be hit again. of --ere were a number myself and a number of other people who spent about three

days there. the president was coming back and he was going to talk to the american people. you have really had a front row seat to history. mr. walters: unbelievable front row to history through my whole career at the white house. i wouldn't change it for the world. the activities of the presidency change from day to day. walters, former white house chief usher, thank you for your time, thank you for your stories. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you watching american history

tv. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. >> each week, american history america" bring you archived films that provide context for today's issues. , beer,hol is in liquor and wine. what is going on back there, boys? ernie, willie? >> nothing. it is just that -- hangover.a >> what you mean, he has a hangover? to cure must be a way his hangover. >> we will see what we can do about this hangover.

the rest of you, get back to your seats. can anybody tell me how bobby's dog got drunk? bobby's mother said he could have a few for the reception afterwards. it was fantastic. there must've been a hundred people there. >> what happened? he looks pretty miserable, doesn't he? willie and ernie were just beginning to tell us how patches got drunk yesterday. >> at the wedding ceremony -- i guess the champagne helps everybody relax. it was a celebration anyway. since it was a special occasion, they said i could have a glass of champagne for good luck. patches began to start drinking,

too. we document just acting funny. -- we thought he was just acting funny. as soon as the champagne and him, he acted like he was a real guest at the party. but the champagne finally got to and he sat there with a dumb look on his face. now he has a terrible hangover. >> one at a time. >> i was talking to my oldest saider about this and he the best thing to do to relieve a hangover is to go into a dark room and go to sleep. >> with my father has a hangover, he drinks a raw and with tomato juice -- a raw egg with tomato juice. that giantomewhere

doses of vitamins can cure a hangover within an hour. >> maybe if you have a headache, you can take a couple of aspirin . but, there are no hangover cures. how long your hangover lasts and how drug you get depends on your size and weight, how much drinking your been doing, and how much streaking you have done in your life before -- how much drinking you have done in your life before. who can tell us why patches got drunk? >> he drank a lot. might not have eaten all day so alcohol affected him more. >> there is a whole lot of alcohol in champagne. >> who can tell us how much alcohol is in the different kinds of drinks?

andiquor has between 40% 50% alcohol. half of the proof on the label is the percentage of alcohol. to 50%es have about 10% alcohol. i talked to a beer company you told me that beer has only about 4% alcohol. of anm putting one half ounce of beverage alcohol into this graduated beaker. this represents the amount of alcohol found in this shot glass of hard liquor. of hard liquor, in this glass of wine, and this mug of beer. the same amount of alcohol is found in a glass of wine, a mug of beer, or a shot of hard liquor. if he had drunk the same amount

of hard liquor as he did champagne -- >> he would have been miserable. >> very sick, or worse. damage?n't do any real -- could it do any real damage? >> let's have a look so the whole class can see. the first process we know of is when alcohol enters the body. how does that happen? the stomach and small intestines, absorption happened. alcohol enters into the bloodstream through the walls of tinytomach and through blood vessels. once in the bloodstream, it is free to move about the body. >> to some parts get more alcohol than others?

>> it seems the body tissues more water taken more alcohol. the bones have very little water so they get almost no alcohol. >> what is oxidation? >> most of the alcohol in our bodies gets combined with oxygen. this means that the alcohol cap broken down into water and carbon dioxide. the liver can only process a little bit of alcohol at a time. the rest of the alcohol keeps moving around in our bloodstream. matter how much alcohol you drink or what kind or how big or small you are, the liver can only oxidize a certain amount at a time, and it is a slow process. around inas traveling the bloodstream.

>> where does the alcohol go then? >> this water and carbon dioxide are now waste products. we want to talk about -- >> alcohol has in effect in different places in the body. the biggest effect is the brain and central nervous system. it affects the part of the brain that controls our judgment and thought. that affects ability to understand, remember, make decisions. let's say patches is under the influence of too much alcohol. now, let's say that he sees a cat. eyes send a message to the brain saying there is a cat. by the time patches finally reacts and get going, the cap is

long gone -- the cat is long gone. >> anything else happened? as more alcohol is consumed, the effects on the brain is more apparent like the part that controls hearing. also, the part that affects seeing, speaking, and moving around. you get to the part of the brain that includes breathing, heart beat, temperature. way, it didn'the stop your breathing altogether or your heart. -- it can stop your breathing altogether, or your heart. remember, you have to learn these things about alcohol because it does affect your brain and your body. orrn when enough is enough you will end up just like patches here.

c-span, where history unfold daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's public television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. each week, american history tv's "american artifacts" takes you viewers into archives, museums, and historic sites from around the country. next, located about three miles from george washington's mount vernon estate in virginia is a reconstructed 18th-century style whiskey distillery. american history tv visited to learn about washington's distilling business on a day when the staff was making apple brandy.