whittington, miss smith. >> miss whittington. >> where are you from?aryland. >> west river, maryland. that's nice to have you with. >> us. >> miss. >> whittington, may i present our panelists now, would you join me over here, please? and we'll let. >> the audience. >> in the theater and the audience at home know exactly what your line is. okay. >> so it turns out president lyndon johnson had arranged for miss whittington to appear on the show rather than. >> announce her. >> hiring by. a press conference. he knew. >> that the hire. >> would be controversial. geraldine jerry whittington was the first black woman to work in a non-domestic job in the white house. she got hired as lbj's personal secretary when, after the assassination of president kennedy, the new president wanted a fresh pool of secretaries in the white house. he reportedly saw miss whittington working in another government office and asked his aide, jack valenti, to track down her number. here's part of the phone call recorded by johnson, of him calling miss whittington to offer her the