![]() ![]() West, you can imagine the words President Kennedy would have said about you in the Citation. I had it made early this year when I knew he would never be able to give it to you himself in his beloved Rose Garden, which you also made possible. ![]() ![]() This little gold box is a sad substitute for the Citation of Merit which President Kennedy was going to give you this last Fourth of July, for all that you did for your country for so many years, serving four Presidents with such extraordinary energy, tact and devotion. Kennedy herself gave him a vermeil cigarette case inscribed "With deep appreciation for Jan. Letitia Baldrige, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy 's social secretary, called him "the miracle maker of the White House". He was responsible for taking care of all activities occurring in the Executive Residence. He was promoted to Chief Usher when Crim retired in 1957. West began work in the White House as assistant to the chief usher, Howell G. He graduated from Creston High School in 1930 and moved to Washington in 1939, where he worked in the Veterans Administration. West was born in Afton, Iowa, on July 27, 1912, to William and Sarah ( née McVey) West. ![]() His best-selling book, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (with Mary Lynn Kotz), documents his time in the executive mansion and is considered a good source of material on the First Families he served. James Bernard West (J– July 18, 1983) was the 6th Chief Usher of the White House serving from 1957 to 1969. ![]()
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