so when we got back to the white house, all of the guys said to me when we went in through the south portico, the big doors they go out into the round diplomate and reception lounge and the guys tell me, steve, man, we're really surprised and ashamed. >> what are you talking about? >> he said you drank the president's wine. i said, well, man he offered it to me and i said you never tell the president no. they looked at me and they said, you're smart. >> i said, no, you never tell the president no. but that's why he gave-- that's why i drank his wine and it was good wine and i was ready to drink some more, but we had a good time and we left from there and we went back-- straight back to the white house, taking off our tuxedos and all of that stuff and back into our work clothes and i went back up on the scaffold because i had to finish the chandeliers and everybody else was hanging christmas wreaths and putting up the christmas tree and all of that kind of stuff, but it was a wonderful experience, man. i just can't tell you just how wonderful it was. >> and stewart calvin stevens, sr., the bo

so when we got back to the white house, all of the guys said to me when we went in through the south portico, the big doors they go out into the round diplomate and reception lounge and the guys tell me, steve, man, we're really surprised and ashamed. >> what are you talking about? >> he said you drank the president's wine. i said, well, man he offered it to me and i said you never tell the president no. they looked at me and they said, you're smart. >> i said, no, you never tell the president no. but that's why he gave-- that's why i drank his wine and it was good wine and i was ready to drink some more, but we had a good time and we left from there and we went back-- straight back to the white house, taking off our tuxedos and all of that stuff and back into our work clothes and i went back up on the scaffold because i had to finish the chandeliers and everybody else was hanging christmas wreaths and putting up the christmas tree and all of that kind of stuff, but it was a wonderful experience, man. i just can't tell you just how wonderful it was. >> and stewart calvin stevens, sr., the bo

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

so when we got back to the white house all of the guys said to m we waited through the south portico which is the big green door where they go out into. [inaudible] the guys told me steve, we're really surprised.rank the >> nsfw talking about and he i sa you drink the presidents wine.ff >> and i said will man, heheto offered it to me and you never tell the president know. and they looked at me and they said you're smart and i said no, you never tell the president know. will that so i wife and it wasas good wine. and i was ready to drink some more. we had a good time and we left b from there and we went straight back to the white house taken off our tuxedos and got back in our work close. i went back up on the scaffold to finish the chandeliers. everybody else was hanging christmas decorations.ce, man. it was a wonderful experience. i just can't tell you how wonderful it was. >> calvin senior, this is called the white house chandeliers, my experiences while working for seven u.s. presidents. mr. stevens worked at the white house from 1970 until 2002. where can people find the book? >>

room and he and his wife pat accompanied by then vice president his wife betty walked out of the south porticoh julia and the two nixon daughters. a report in the helicopter to go to andrews air force base get on air -- aircraft to go to california. nixon walked up the steps the helicopter but the topic turned and raced the audience of people that were his close friends, staff and allies and they were mostly leaving and he threw his arms forward in the victory sign my keys to do. i stood there saying to myself but the hell does he think he has one? [laughter] leaving in disgrace so was a mystery to me why he reacted the way he did. >> land was there when gerald ford took office. >> and he made that famous speech where he declared the national nightmare is over and for most intents and purposes it was. it was a relief to have someone there that most people trusted, most people like but it was a big change from what had been. >> so clint was there during the ford for one year he retired in 1975 it age of three. clint you told us when you were young boy growing up in washburn north dakota that yo

those moving vans come to the south portico.he resident staff is divided into a number of work crews. i usually divide them into groups of outgoing furniture movers, incoming furniture movers, packers, on packers, retrievers, placers, truck packers and truck unpackers and then i use the curator's office at the white house to monitor and catalog special interest and high value items coming in and going on. the chief usher gets to set in the middle of all this and be a kind of concertmaster, directing everybody and ensuring that the wishes of the first family are met. it is the intended aim of the executive resident staff to have the departing family know that they are still in their home on inaugural morning. and it's not until they leave that they're actually leaving their home. it's also our goal that after the inaugural parade, the new first family comes into the white house that has been transformed into their home. their clothes are in their closets, not in boxes. their personal and chosen white house furniture in places the

they get a coney island chair and modify it and will him out to the south portico to sit and put blankets around him so that when the cap it members -- cabinet members would meet, they could see him out there. then they started to do a strange thing with the president. wilson liked to watch movies. they had a guy coming from the theater who brought his projector. he did not like any sound so there was no accompaniment. wilson would sit in the red room , they would take out the rugs and put a big sheet from the lincoln bed on the wall and show him movies. he liked westerns. sometimes he would get upset if there was too much action. sometimes he passed out. one time the guy showing the movie swore he was dead. he thought that the president had expired and then nudged him and he sort of came back to life. this was part of his routine. there is a norman desmond -- becauseit he goes he started to show movies from his own administration. when he went over to paris to negotiate peace, they took movies, newsreels. so he would have those put on. you have to imagine, here is this row can man watchi

wife pat, accompanied by then-vice president gerry ford and and his wife betty, walked out of the south porticojulie and trisha, the two nixon daughters and their husbands. the nixons were boarding a helicopter to fly to the andrews air force base to get on an aircraft to fly to california. and pat got on the helicopter, and then nixon turned and walked up the steps of the to helicopter. but at the top, he turned and he faced the audience of people that were his close friends, staff, allies, and they were mostly weeping. and he threw his arms forward in that v for victory sign like he used to do. and i stood there saying to myself, what the hell does he think he's won? [laughter] leaving in disgrace. so it was kind of a mystery to me why he reacted the way he did. >> so clint was there when gerald ford took office. >> and he made that famous speech where he declared that the national -- >> national nightmare -- >> -- nightmare is over. and for most intents and purposes, it was. it was a relief to have someone there that most people trusted. most people liked. but it was a big change from what h

moving vans come to the south portico. the staff is divided into a number of work crews. i usually divide them into groups of outstanding furniture mover, incoming, packer, unpacker, retrievers, placer, truck packers and truck unpackers and then i use the cure rater's office at the white house to monitor and catalog special interest and high value items coming in and going on. the chief usher gets to set in the middle o f this and be kind of a concert master. directing everybody and ensuring that the wishes of the first family are met. it is the intended aim of the executive resident staff to have the departing family know that they are still in their home on inaugural morning. and it's not until they leave that they're actually leaving their home. it's also our goal that after the inaugural parade, the new first family comes into the white house that has been transformed into their home. their clothes are in their closet, not in boxes. their chosen furniture in places they have designated. even their favorite foods and snacks in the pantry and then the chief usher gets t

those moving vans come to the south portico.ident staff is divided into a number of work crews. i usually divide them into groups of outgoing furniture movers, incoming furniture movers, packers, unpackers, retrievers, placers, truck packers and truck unpackers, and then i use the curator's office at the white house to monitor and catalog special interest and high value items coming in and going out. in chief usher gets to sit the middle and be kind of a concertmaster, direct to everybody and ensuring that the mission of the first family is met. it is the intention of the staff to have the departing family know that they are still in their home on inaugural morning, and it is not until they leave that they are actually leaving their home. afteralso our goal that the inaugural parade, the new first family comes into the white house that has been transformed into their home. are in their closets, not in boxes. their personal and chosen white house furniture in places they have designated. even their favorite foods and snacks in th

i happened to be at the south portico as the first lady was departing to go to capitol hill. she was told by the secret service agent that there had been a tremendous accident in new york just within the last couple of minutes as he ushered her in the car and he turned to me and said there's been a plane fly into the world trade center in new york. looked sky ward. perfectly clear skies, beautiful day. i thought how in the world could that possibly happen? went inside and this gets to be a long story so i'll make it as short as i can. i walked in after a period of time to see the television set in our office and i saw a plane fly into the world trade center and i asked one of my aveds how in the world did that occur? how did they get it on camera? and he said that's the second plane so after trying to stabilize my thoughts, we moved forward. there was actually going to be a reception on the south ground that night for the entire congress, both the house and the senate, a barbecue on the south grounds. there were over 150 picnic tables on the south grounds, chuck wagons becaus

south door. that's what the portico names came from. a beautiful place and mrs. reagan was just a very nice lady. she kind of stayed to herself but she would always speak andy laugh and she would get soap crazy about ronnie. everything was ronnie. she would talk about ronnie all over the white house because she loved him that much. he was the same way and think god he didn't get killed when he had that attempted assassination on his life. >> host: were you at the white house said they? >> guest: yes sir, i was there that day and what happened was the president went out to make a speech someplace up there and the secret service, he had all the secret service around them like they normally do. anyway, when he came out hinckley fired two or three shots and the secret service guy ride we grabbed the president, pushed them into the limousine and the secret service guy got hinckley and they had to get, the one that got shot in the head. >> host: james brady. >> guest: yeah brady.e he got shot in the head. >> host: where reagan white house? >> guest: i don't know what p