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Classical and Quantum Parametric Phenomena
Classical and Quantum
Parametric Phenomena
A L E X A N D ER EI C H L ER A N D O D ED Z I LBER BER G
ETH Zurich and University of Konstanz
 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Alexander Eichler and Oded Zilberberg 2023
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023935805
ISBN 9780192862709
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192862709.001.0001
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CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
To our wives and daughters
Acknowledgments
We are indebted to many colleagues for accompanying us along our scientific jour-
ney and for improving our own understanding through countless discussions. First,
we would like to thank all of our collaborators and co-authors throughout the years.
Among these many names, we especially mention R. Chitra, Toni L. Heugel, and
Jan Kos̆ata for helping to shape the way we think about the topic. It was a privi-
lege and a pleasure to work with you. Second, we learned much from the intelligent
questions of the students attending our course over the years, and from the input of
our guest lecturers. Special credit goes to Giacomo Scalari, Martin Frimmer, Jérôme
Faist, and Christopher Eichler, whose guest lectures on nonlinear optics, mechanics,
and electronics were an inspiration for several student projects. Third, we are grateful
to many colleagues in the community of nonlinear dynamics, whose guidance and com-
ments proved invaluable. Specific thanks go Mark Dykman, Steven Shaw, Eva Weig,
Guillermo Villanueva, Ron Lifshitz, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, and Iacopo Carusotto. For
critical comments on this text, we further thank Alexander Grimm, Robert Chapman,
and Javier del Pino. Finally, we will be obliged to every reader helping us to improve
this book by providing constructive criticism and feedback.
Preface

This book provides an overview of the phenomena arising when parametric pump-
ing is applied to oscillators. These phenomena include parametric amplification, noise
squeezing, spontaneous symmetry breaking, activated switching, cat states, and syn-
thetic Ising spin lattices. To understand these effects, we introduce topics such as non-
linear and stochastic dynamics, mode coupling, and quantum mechanics. Throughout
the book, we keep these introductions as succinct as possible and focus our attention
on understanding parametric oscillators. As a result, we familiarize ourselves with
many aspects of parametric systems and understand the common theoretical origin of
nanomechanical sensors, optical amplifiers, and superconducting qubits.
Parametric phenomena have enabled important scientific breakthroughs over recent
decades and are still the focus of intense research efforts. Our intention is to provide
a resource for experimental and theoretical physicists entering the field or wishing to
gain a deeper understanding of the underlying connections. As such, we combine formal
and intuitive explanations, accompanied by exercises based on numerical python codes.
This combination allows the reader to experience parametric phenomena from various
directions and to apply their understanding directly to their own research projects.
For lecturers, the book supplies all the material necessary for an advanced class on
the topic.
Contents

Introduction 1
0.1 Historical Review 2
0.2 Present and Future 3
1 The Harmonic Resonator 5
1.1 Newton’s Equation of Motion 5
1.2 Response of the Driven Resonator 7
1.3 Matrix Formulation 8
1.4 Parametric Modulation 11
1.5 Floquet Theory 13
Chapter summary 18
Exercises 19
2 The Duffing Resonator 20
2.1 The Quartic Potential 20
2.2 The Cubic Potential 27
Chapter summary 29
Exercises 30
3 Degenerate Parametric Pumping 32
3.1 The Nonlinear Parametric Resonator 32
3.2 Parametric Pumping via Three-Wave Mixing 42
Chapter summary 44
Exercises 45
4 Dissipation and Force Fluctuations 46
4.1 The Role of Force Noise 46
4.2 The Fluctuation–Dissipation Theorem 52
4.3 The Probability Distribution Approach 57
Chapter summary 61
Exercises 62
5 Parametric Resonators with Force Noise 63
5.1 Multistability and Quasi-Stable Solutions 63
5.2 Parametric Amplification below Threshold 64
5.3 Parametric Pumping Above Threshold 68
5.4 Hierarchy of Relevant Timescales 74
Chapter summary 76
Exercises 77
x Contents

6 Coupled Harmonic Resonators 79

6.1 Static Coupling 79
6.2 Nondegenerate Three-Wave Mixing 86
6.3 Alternative Types of Coupling 91
Chapter summary 96
Exercises 97
7 Coupled Parametric Oscillators 98
7.1 Equations for N Coupled Parametric Oscillators 98
7.2 Examples for N = 2 100
7.3 Networks with N > 2 108
Chapter summary 111
Exercises 112
8 The Quantum Harmonic Oscillator 113
8.1 From Classical to Quantum Fluctuations 113
8.2 From First to Second Quantization 116
8.3 Quantum State Representations 123
Chapter summary 130
Exercises 131
9 From Closed to Open Quantum Systems 132
9.1 Coupling to a Thermal Environment 132
9.2 The Driven Quantum Resonator 136
Chapter summary 141
Exercises 142
10 The Quantum Parametric Oscillator 143
10.1 General Hamiltonian 143
10.2 Quantum Parametric Phenomena 145
10.3 Coupled Quantum Parametric Oscillators 153
Chapter summary 156
Exercises 157
11 Experimental Systems 159
11.1 Mechanical Resonator Example 160
11.2 Electrical Resonator Example 161
11.3 Optical Resonator Example 163
11.4 Rescaling of the Numerical Values 166
Chapter summary 168
Exercises 169
References 170
Subject Index 176
List of Important Symbols
(in approximate order of appearance)

H Hamiltonian
Epot potential energy
Ekin kinetic energy
Etot = Epot + Ekin ; total energy
x displacement
p momentum
t time
m mass
ω0 angular resonance frequency
ν0 = ω0 /(2π); temporal resonance frequency
k = mω02 ; spring constant
T0 = 2π/ω0 = 1/ν0 ; unforced oscillator period
Q quality factor
Γ = ω0 /Q; damping rate
τ0 = 2/Γ; amplitude decay time constant

1/2
ωΓ = ω02 − Γ2 /4 ≈ ω0 ; dissipation-shifted angular resonance frequency
µ characteristic exponent
F0 amplitude of external force
F in Chapters 1 to 7: all forcep terms acting on the bare resonator
in Chapters 9 and 10: = F20 ~/2mω0 ; rotating-frame quantum force term
ω angular frequency of external force
θ phase offset of external force
χ susceptibility function of driven resonator
X oscillation amplitude
x vector of a system’s degrees of freedom
G in Chapters 1 to 7: matrix containing the coefficients of the differential equation
in Chapter 10: parametric drive in the rotating-frame quantum Hamiltonian
W in Chapters 1 to 7: Wronskian matrix
in Chapters 8 to 10: Wigner quasiprobability density
Φ state transfer matrix
Tp period of parametric pump
ωp = 2π/Tp ; angular frequency of parametric pump
λ parametric modulation depth
λth = 2/Q; parametric pumping threshold at ωp = 2ω0
β3 coefficient of cubic (Duffing) nonlinearity
β2 coefficient of quadratic nonlinearity
β22
β = β3 − 10 9 ω 2 ; coefficient of effective Duffing nonlinearity
u in-phase oscillation quadrature
v out-of-phase oscillation quadrature
ψ phase offset of parametric pump
η coefficient of nonlinear damping
kB ≈ 1.38 × 10−23 J T−1 ; Boltzmann constant
T temperature
Eeq equilibrium energy
ξ force noise term
ςD standard deviation of force noise
σx standard deviation of x (for any variable x)
SF power spectral density of force noise
Ξu in-phase quadrature of force noise
Ξv out-of-phase quadrature of force noise
ρ probability density
in Chapters 8 to 10: density operator
J coefficient of coupling between resonators
∆k detuning spring force
U in Chapter 6: normal-mode transformation matrix
in Chapter 10: Kerr nonlinearity
ω∆ = ω0Jm ; angular exchange rate and spectral splitting
t∆ = 2π
ω∆
; energy exchange time
g parametric coupling modulation depth
ωR angular Rabi frequency
~ ≈ 1.05 × 10−34 J s−1 ; reduced Planck constant
στ state lifetime
σE energy uncertainty
Ψ wave function
n in Chapters 8 to 10: Fock state number
a = â; annihilation operator
a† = ↠; creation operator
xdl = 12 (a† + a); dimensionless x operator
pdl = 2i (a† − a); dimensionless x operator
α amplitude of coherent state
Pj probability of measuring the system in the state j
κ = Γ; system-environment coupling rate
nth mean thermal excitation
Urot rotating-frame transformation matrix
∆ ω − ω0 ; angular frequency detuning
ã annihilation operator in the rotating frame
ㆠcreation operator in the rotating frame
αR real part of coherent state amplitude
αI imaginary part of coherent state amplitude
∆U = ∆ + U ; detuning shifted by the Kerr nonlinearity
Introduction

“It’s still magic even if you know how it’s done.”

(Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky)

About This Work

This book emerged from a master-level course on “Parametric Phenomena” that the
authors held together at ETH Zurich between 2018 and 2021, and individually at their
respective universities since then. The course was organized as a reverse-classroom
event: students would prepare by reading material at home, and then use the time in
class to solve exercises and discuss with the teaching team. With this approach, we
hoped to present the topic in much the same way as we experience it during our own
research, and to encourage the students to formulate (and solve) their own questions.
In line with this philosophy, the graded deliverable that every student handed in for
passing the course was a poster that approximated one particular system as a paramet-
ric oscillator, including physical units and estimated numerical values. We saw many
creative results, ranging from an airplane wobbling in the wind and a ship rolling in
the sea to a nanoparticle trapped in an optical potential, a Josephson superconducting
resonator, an optical ring resonator, a yo-yo, and even the predator–prey dynamics
between a pack of wolves and a flock of sheep. This book is meant to provide all that
is necessary to hold such a course, including the reading material, exercises, codes to
solve the exercises, and a tutorial of how to map realistic physical systems onto the
desired equations.
In this book, we perform a diagonal cut through many different topics. We follow a
path from the deterministic mechanics of a harmonic oscillator all the way to the non-
deterministic physics of coupled nonlinear quantum oscillators. Along this trajectory,
we encounter many ideas and concepts that can fill entire books of their own accord.
Our discussions of these concepts are guided by the wish to build an understanding
without dealing with all possible details. This book is clearly not an exhaustive resource
on topics such as nonlinear mechanics, stochastic physics, or the quantum oscillator.
These topics have been treated in much more detail in other articles and books which
we cite where appropriate. Rather, we want to focus on the combination of all these
fundamental theories to gain a balanced and comprehensive view of the parametric
oscillator.
In Chapter 1, we start with the deterministic behavior of the classical harmonic
oscillator subject to damping and driving, and later to parametric pumping. Build-
ing on this foundation, we add nonlinearities in Chapter 2, and combine them with
a parametric pump in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, we introduce fluctuating forces for
the example of the harmonic oscillator, which we generalize to the nonlinear para-
metric oscillator in Chapter 5. Coupling between oscillators is discussed in Chapter 6
2 Introduction

and applied to stochastic, nonlinear parametric oscillators in Chapter 7. The quan-

tum harmonic oscillator follows in Chapter 8, which leads to the driven and damped
quantum harmonic oscillator in Chapter 9, and the quantum parametric oscillators in
Chapter 10. Finally, in Chapter 11 we explain with several examples how mechanical,
electrical, and optical systems can all serve as parametric oscillators.

0.1 Historical Review

In this Introduction, we review historical examples of parametric phenomena and
understand why this topic is still the focus of so many research fields today. Before
we can embark on our tour through the centuries, we must clarify what we mean by
the term parametric. In our usage of the word, it refers to a periodic modulation of
a resonator’s potential — physically, the modulation could originate from a change in
the tension of a mechanical string, a child alternatively standing and squatting on a
swing, the effect of waves hitting a ship to change its buoyancy center, a variation in
the effective capacitance of an electrical resonator, or an increase of the polarization
of an optical medium in response to electromagnetic waves. All of these seemingly
disparate examples obey very similar equations, and many of them can be used for
similar technological applications (although so far no applications have been developed
for children on swings . . . ). The phenomena that arise as a consequence of parametric
modulation are as varied as the physical systems in which they appear. At first glance,
the menagerie of parametric phenomena may appear endless, but we will see that they
all follow a few intuitive rules and can be classified accordingly.
The earliest examples of parametric oscillation are found, not surprisingly, in the
mechanical domain. To our knowledge, the first experimental description of parametric
resonance is ascribed to the works of Michael Faraday in 1831 [1] and Franz Melde
in 1860 [2]. However, applications of the effect are much older: the big censer “O
Botafumeiro” used for certain rituals in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
in Spain is set into pendulum motion by periodically modulating (i.e. parametrically
pumping) the length of its rope [3]. As the censer weights about 60 kg and moves
20 m up and down during its largest oscillations, a team of operators is needed for this
pumping, and their actions have to be coordinated in time to achieve the desired effect.
Reports of parametric pumping of O Botafumeiro reach back to the 13th century. A
mathematical treatment of parametric oscillation was not attempted until 1883, when
Lord Rayleigh published his paper “On maintained vibrations” [4]. He analyzed the
different types of driving that a system can experience and showed that parametric
modulations can explain Faraday’s experimental observations [1].
Technological applications of parametric pumping in electronics began to appear
in the 20th century with the development of the Mag Amp [5] and the Klystron [6]
amplifiers, both of which were based on time-dependent modulation of a control pa-
rameter. The Mag Amp found application in early radio telephones around 1915, and
the Klystron allows high-power microwave generation and is still in use today for niche
applications such as spacecraft communication and synchrotrons. In the second half of
the century, inventions like the Parametric Amplifier by Arthur Ashkin and colleagues
in 1959 [7] and the Broadband cavity parametric amplifier with tuning by Closson in
1962 [8] opened up new perspectives for electrical signal amplification. It was un-
 Present and Future 3

derstood that a modulation of the reactance (i.e., the capacitance or inductance) of

a resonant electrical circuit can lead to strong signal amplification without adding
Nyquist noise which is unavoidable in resistor-based operational amplifiers [9, 10].
With the advent of superconducting circuits and the possibility of a strong nonlinear
inductance imposed by Josephson junctions, the parametric amplifier was brought to
its logical culmination, offering signal amplification with no more noise than what is
absolutely required by the laws of quantum mechanics [11–13]. However, it was only af-
ter the turn of the millennium that these Josephson parametric amplifiers moved fully
into the focus of the experimental quantum physics community [14–20], enabling exper-
iments that previously were unfeasible [21]. Around the same time, parametric ampli-
fication [22–27] and coupling [28–32] were also explored in the growing nanomechanics
community. A particularly important application arose in cavity optomechanics, where
the parametric coupling between a mechanical and an optical degree of freedom can be
used for precise control of the resonator and for cooling it down to its quantum ground
state [33]. Parametric squeezing can be used to reduce fluctuations [22, 34–36] and has
been employed as a means to generate nonclassical optical [37, 38] or mechanical [39–
41] states. Importantly, parametric squeezing has been proposed as a way to boost the
sensitivity of optical interferometers for gravitational wave detection [42–44].
Most of the above applications are achieved for relatively weak parametric mod-
ulation. By contrast, when the pumping exceeds a certain threshold, entirely new
phenomena appear. Under strong parametric pumping at a frequency close to twice
its resonance frequency, a resonator experiences a negative effective damping, such
that it will ring up to large amplitudes and be stabilized only by nonlinear potential
terms [45]. Such parametric instability appears in many contexts; for instance, it is held
responsible for the dreaded parametric rolling of ships that has caused catastrophic
accidents [46]. It is also considered as a possible mechanism for particle creation in
models of the early universe [47, 48].
Beyond the instability threshold, the parametrically driven resonator can select one
of two oscillation phases that are separated by a phase of π. This causes a spontaneous
breaking of the time-translation symmetry of the system — oscillations with either
phase are equivalent solutions in response to the drive, but only one of them can be
realized at the same time (in a classical system) [45, 49]. Around 1960, Eiichi Goto [50]
and John von Neumann [51] independently realized that these phase states offer a way
to encode digital information. The parametron was indeed used as a memory unit for
electrical computers in Japan until the invention of the transistor provided a more
efficient solution.

0.2 Present and Future

Over the last few years, the development of novel resonators in the electrical, mechani-
cal and optical domain has led to a revival of interest in the parametric oscillator1 and
the idea of parametron phase logic, in both the classical and quantum domains [52–
65]. Of particular interest is the idea of coupling many parametrons into a configurable

1 Other terms for the parametric oscillator are Kerr parametric oscillator or two-photon driven Kerr
resonator.
4 Introduction

Hopfield-type network [66, 67]. Here, the phase states of a single parametron represent
the two polarization states of a spin, and the entire network can be used to simulate the
behavior of the corresponding many-body Ising model [68]. Many optimization prob-
lems, such as the MAX-CUT problem [69, 70] or the number partitioning problem [71],
are isomorphic to finding the ground state of an Ising network, and at the same time
are nearly intractable with classical (sequential) computers [72]. Recent years have
therefore seen a surge of ideas related to parametron logic control [55, 57, 73–77] and
parametric network operation [62, 69–71, 78–86].
Whether the complexity of a multimode nonlinear oscillator network can be tamed
to enable parallel computing and quantum simulations is an open question and will
be the subject of intensive research over the coming years. What is safe to predict
is that every new physical implementation of the harmonic oscillator sooner or later
rediscovers parametric phenomena and applies it to a new purpose. A concept that
is so versatile and useful will remain important in science and technology, no matter
what the future brings.
1
The Harmonic Resonator

Harmonic oscillators are ubiquitous in nature and have been treated in many text-
books in depth [87, 88]. We briefly repeat in this first chapter those features that are
important for the rest of the book. To facilitate an intuitive approach, we adopt the
language of a mechanical oscillator, but the discussion may easily be translated to
any oscillating system, cf. Chapter 11. Examples will be calculated without units, to
preserve the spirit of a general treatment.

1.1 Newton’s Equation of Motion

Consider a mass on a spring, see Fig. 1.1. The system has kinetic and potential energy,
where the latter is stored in the spring proportional to the square of the displacement
x, such that

p2 1
H = Etot = Ekin + Epot = + kx2 . (1.1)
2m 2
Here, H is the Hamiltonian of the system, p the momentum and canonical conjugate
of the displacement x, k the spring constant, and m the mass. The Hamiltonian is a
function that describes the total kinetic and potential energy of a closed system. From
Hamiltonian mechanics, we can calculate the force that acts on the mass at any given
time t as
dp ∂H
F ≡ ṗ ≡ =− = −kx , (1.2)
dt ∂x
where dots denote differentiation with respect to time t. The quadratic potential,
thus, corresponds to a linear spring force. Combining eqn (1.1) with the second one of
Hamilton’s equations of motion (EOM),
∂H p
ẋ = = , (1.3)
∂p m
we obtain a second-order differential equation that is known as Newton’s EOM,
k
ẍ + x = 0. (1.4)
m
Equation (1.4) is solved using the ansatz x(t) = xini eiω0 t , where xini is determined
by the initial boundary conditions, ω0 = (k/m)1/2 = 2πν0 = 2π/T0 is the angular
resonance frequency, T0 is the unforced periodicity of the oscillator, and we refer to
6 The Harmonic Resonator

(a) (b) Epot

x

m x Fspring

Fspring

Fig. 1.1 (a) As an example of a harmonic oscillator, we use a mass on a spring. Displacing
the mass from its rest position by x results in a restoring spring force Fspring = −kx. A
displaced mass is shown in gray. (b) The potential energy of a harmonic oscillator is quadratic
in displacement, Epot = 12 kx2 , cf. eqn (1.2).

ν0 as natural frequency. Note that eqn (1.4) describes an oscillator that is isolated
from its environment, that is, Hamiltonian evolution is energy-conserving and does
not feature damping terms.
Finding the microscopic origin of damping terms is an important topic on its
own [89]. For now, we assume a phenomenological source of dissipation that enters
Newton’s EOM and can stabilize the oscillator’s motion,
k
ẍ + Γẋ + x = 0, (1.5)
m
where Γ is the coefficient corresponding to the dissipative (linear) damping enacted
by the environment. Note that from a mathematical point of view, we can account for
the added damping term through the transformation [88]

x(t) = e−Γt/2 y(t) = e−t/τ0 y(t) , (1.6)

where we define a decay time τ0 = 2/Γ. The equation of motion for y(t) then takes
the form of a closed harmonic oscillator,

ÿ + ωΓ2 y = 0 , (1.7)

in an exponentially expanding or shrinking coordinate system and with a slightly

shifted resonance frequency

Γ2
ωΓ2 = ω02 − . (1.8)
4
From the transformation in eqn (1.6), we observe that for 2ω0 > Γ > 0 the oscillator
coordinate x(t) decays exponentially in time in addition to an harmonic oscillation.
However, we can already guess that something different must happen once 2ω0 ≤ Γ.
A direct treatment of the homogeneous dissipative case in eqn (1.5) is possible
starting from the same ansatz that any particular solution has the form

x(t) = xini eµt (1.9)

 Response of the Driven Resonator 7

(a) 20 (b) 10

0 0
mj

mj
-20 -10
-20 0 20 -10 0 10

G w0

Fig. 1.2 The real (solid) and imaginary (dashed) parts of the characteristic exponents,
cf. eqn (1.11), as a function of (a) damping coefficient Γ for a bare angular resonance frequency
ω0 = 2π, and of (b) ω0 for Γ = 2π.

with a complex characteristic exponent µ ∈. Inserting eqn (1.9) into eqn (1.5) leads
to

x µ2 + µΓ + ω02 = 0 , (1.10)

which, for x 6= 0, results in a quadratic characteristic equation with the two roots
Γ Γ
q
µa,b = − ± Γ2 /4 − ω02 = − ± iωΓ . (1.11)
2 2
This is identical to what we obtained with the coordinate transformation method in
eqn (1.6), see eqn (1.8) and the discussion thereafter.
We can identify several distinct regimes of motion: for damped oscillators (Γ >
0) we distinguish between overdamped (ωΓ2 < 0), critically damped (ωΓ2 = 0), and
underdamped motion (ωΓ2 > 0), where oscillation appears only for the latter.1 For Γ <
0, the oscillator is unstable and the motion becomes unbounded. This is visualized by
plotting the real and imaginary part of the characteristic exponents µa,b , see Fig. 1.2.
Note that, in many cases, the small correction to the bare frequency due to the damping
term is neglected, such that ωΓ2 ≈ ω02 .

1.2 Response of the Driven Resonator

In large parts of our treatment, we will use Newton’s EOM to analyze the behavior of
driven oscillating systems. For our mass on a spring, we can write
k F0
ẍ + x + Γẋ = cos(ωt) , (1.12)
m m
where F = F0 cos(ωt) is an external driving force that turns eqn (1.12) into an in-
homogeneous differential equation.
1 The critically damped point is an example of an exceptional point where the roots are degenerate
and eqn (1.9) is insufficient [90].
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I consider it a great tribute to his father’s eloquence that “Treasure
Island” was not opened that day.
This Inauguration was said to be, by persons who had seen many,
one of the most impressive ceremonies that ever opened the
administration of a President. The oath of office is usually
administered and the Inaugural address delivered from a large
platform erected in front of the Capitol before which ten thousand
people can assemble. But the ten thousand people are sure to have
been waiting in a massed crowd for an hour or more; they are always
tired and uncomfortable, so when they finally discover that few of
them can really hear anything, and that they have seen all there is to
be seen, they begin to move about and talk, the noise and agitation
greatly detracting from the impressiveness of the ceremony. Because
my husband’s Inauguration took place in the Senate Chamber it was
no less “in the sight of all the people.” There was room on the floor of
the Chamber for the whole official personnel of the Government of
the United States, resident in Washington. There were the retiring
President and his Cabinet, the Justices of the Supreme Court in their
robes of office, the Senate and the House of Representatives, besides
the foreign Ambassadors and the whole Diplomatic Corps in their
brilliant uniforms, while the galleries were crowded with official
families and a substantial number of unofficial auditors.
 MR. AND MRS. TAFT RETURNING TO THE WHITE HOUSE
MR. TAFT’S INAUGURATION

It was a great presence; and the taking of the oath and the
delivering of the Inaugural address before assembled national
authority and the world’s representatives, in a solemn silence in
which every word could be heard, left a deep impression.
As soon as Mr. Taft had finished speaking Mr. Roosevelt walked
rapidly up, and giving his hand a mighty grasp, said something which
sounded like “Bully speech, old man!” and hurried out of the
Chamber accompanied by members of his Cabinet who were to see
him off at the station. My husband told me afterward that what he
really said was: “God bless you, old man. It is a great state
document.”
Since the ex-President was not going to ride back to the White
House with his successor, I decided that I would. No President’s wife
had ever done it before, but as long as precedents were being
disregarded I thought it might not be too great a risk for me to
disregard this one. Of course, there was objection. Some of the
Inaugural Committee expressed their disapproval, but I had my way
and in spite of protests took my place at my husband’s side.
By the time the Inauguration ceremonies were concluded the skies
had cleared and the sun had come out. Mr. Taft left the Senate
Chamber with the Committee, followed by the assembled dignitaries
in the order of precedence. With Captain Butt I hurried from the
gallery and joined him in the great hall under the Dome, on his way
to the platform on the North Side where the Inauguration would
have taken place but for the weather. In front of the temporary
structure many people had gathered, and as we descended to the
front they called for the new President. In response he stepped to the
platform where the Inaugural oath was to have been administered,
and bowed repeatedly.
A platoon of mounted Police and our escort, the Cleveland City
Troop, with their elaborate and beautiful uniforms somewhat
bedraggled by the morning’s sleet and mud, met us at the steps
leading down from the platform. We entered the official coach and
four and were slowly driven down through the Capitol grounds to
Pennsylvania Avenue, and thence to the White House. As I have said,
the clouds had rolled by; the day was cold but bright; the expected
and expectant crowds were thronging the sidewalks and filling the
stands, and our greeting from them was all that my fancy had
pictured it.
For me that drive was the proudest and happiest event of
Inauguration Day. Perhaps I had a little secret elation in thinking
that I was doing something which no woman had ever done before. I
forgot the anxieties of the preceding night; the consternation caused
by the fearful weather; and every trouble seemed swept aside. My
responsibilities had not yet begun to worry me, and I was able to
enjoy, almost to the full, the realisation that my husband was actually
President of the United States and that it was this fact which the
cheering crowds were acclaiming.
There was nobody at the White House to bid us welcome except
the official staff and some of our own guests. But it didn’t matter.
There is never any ceremony about moving into the White House.
You just drive up and walk in,—and there you are. The aides and
ushers who greeted us at the entrance, treated our occupation of our
new residence so much as a matter of course that I could not help but
feel something as Cinderella must have felt when her mice footmen
bowed her into her coach and four and behaved just as if they had
conducted her to a Court Ball every night of her life. I stood for a
moment over the great brass seal, bearing the national coat-of-arms,
which is sunk in the floor in the middle of the entrance hall. “The
Seal of the President of the United States,” I read around the border,
and now—that meant my husband!
But I could not linger long because my duties as a hostess began at
once. I was not unused to the accepted regulations of official life, so,
in spite of a slight feeling that the whole thing was unreal, I was not
embarrassed as I walked into the great dining-room and took my
place by the door to receive guests for the first time as mistress of the
White House.
I had left to the efficient management of Captain Archibald Butt as
many of the details of the day’s programme as was possible. Some
time before I had carefully gone over the plans with him, we had
provided for any reasonable emergency, and I knew my instructions
would be carried out. Captain Butt—later Major Butt—had been
military aide to President Roosevelt; we had known him well, both in
the Philippines and in Washington, and we were glad to have the
opportunity of continuing him in that capacity. Whatever Major Butt
did was done faultlessly—always. During the three years he was with
us—day in and day out, upon every possible occasion, in the closest
intimacy—I never ceased to wonder at his genius for work, his
comprehensive grasp of important matters and of small details, his
extraordinary accuracy. His very presence inspired the utmost
confidence. Archie Butt, as everybody called him, became our close
and dearly loved friend. Indeed, we felt that he belonged to us, and
nothing in all our experience ever touched us as deeply as the tragedy
of his death. Returning from a short vacation abroad, he went down
on the Titanic, facing death like a soldier, after the lives of nearly all
the women and children had been saved.
We had invited a large number of people to the usual Inaugural
luncheon. The cook and several of the staff of servants were to
accompany Mrs. Roosevelt to Oyster Bay, but they remained until
the afternoon of the Fourth when the staff I had engaged were
installed. There are a few old, official servants who remain in the
house from one administration to another, keeping in operation an
uninterrupted household routine, so there was no reason why the
Inaugural luncheon should not be carried through with the same
smoothness and despatch to be expected on ordinary occasions. But
again we reckoned without the weather. The difficulties of traffic,
added to the crush on the avenues, made it impossible for our guests
to arrive on time and they continued to straggle in throughout the
whole afternoon, each one wishing to apologise in person and make
special explanation. This, of course, made anything like systematic
reception out of the question and the result was that the luncheon
really ran into and became a part of the tea for my husband’s
classmates of Yale, which was scheduled for five o’clock. There was
some confusion, but much goodwill and frank enjoyment and the fact
that the President was not there to receive his classmates caused
nothing more than a few repetitions of, by that time, familiar
comments on the elements.
Mr. Taft was reviewing the Inaugural Parade and the last of it did
not pass the reviewing stand until after nightfall. He came in,
however, in time to exchange greetings with old-time, enthusiastic
friends, the members of the Yale class of ‘78, and to hold them longer
than they had intended to remain. When the last of them had wished
us Godspeed and said good-bye, we stood, the five of us,—my
husband, my three children and I,—alone in the big state dining-
room, and tried to realise that, for the first time, the White House
was really our Home. The great walnut-panelled room, with its
silvered chandeliers and big moose heads, seemed very empty with
only the Taft family in it, after all the clatter and chatter that had
been sounding there all day. We gazed at each other for a moment,
with slightly lost expressions on our faces, and then nature asserted
herself in the new President.
 © Harris & Ewing.

THE PRIVATE DINING-ROOM OF THE

WHITE HOUSE, AND THE FAMILY
SITTING-ROOM AT THE END OF THE
LONG UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR

“Let’s go up stairs, my dears, and sit down!” said he.

Poor man, he had not experienced the blissful sensation of sitting
down since early that morning; so we proceeded out to the elevator,
which Charlie, true to his boy nature, had, of course, already learned
to operate. For once, I am glad to say, it did not stick between floors.
This was a habit to which it became addicted in later days, a habit it
was sure to indulge on occasions when the President proudly used it
for taking a large party of men upstairs after dinner. But this time he
was able, without delay, to reach the best easy-chair in the sitting-
room where he remained until I prodded him once more into activity
by reminding him that he must get into evening clothes else the
Inaugural Ball could not take place.
Not having been taxed so greatly, I was not yet ready to succumb
to fatigue; besides I was now eager to roam around the house, to
familiarise myself with the mysteries of my new home and to plan
the assignment of rooms among various members of the family who
were to come to us that very night.
The second story of the White House, where all the family living
rooms are, corresponds in spaciousness with the floor below, which,
with its broad hall, its great East Room, its large reception rooms and
state dining room, is familiar to the public. Upstairs there is a very
wide hall running the entire length of the building. The rooms
occupied by the President and his wife are in the southwest corner
and at that end of the house the hall is partially partitioned and
screened off and pleasantly furnished with desks, sofas and easy-
chairs to make a fairly large and very private family sitting-room. It
was here that I left my tired husband while I went on my first tour of
exploration.
At each of the four corners of the house there is a suite; all
arranged on the same plan, exactly alike, except as to decoration.
Each consists of an exceedingly large bedroom with a spacious bath,
and a smaller room adjoining which may be used as a bedroom or
dressing-room. I went first into the large bedroom which my
husband and I expected to occupy. The windows of this room look
out on the White House gardens where the large fountain plays, and,
beyond, on the Washington Monument, the Potomac River and the
distant Virginia hills. This, I think, is the most glorious vista in
Washington, which is a city of splendid vistas, and seeing it that
March night by the long line of lights which stretch across the
Potomac bridge and meet the lights of Arlington, it was, indeed,
inspiring.
The room was the room where Lincoln slept, indeed, where every
President since Jackson has slept. A tablet under the mantel states
this fact. It is the room which must necessarily have more intimate
and personal association with the men who have occupied the White
House than any other. Other parts of the house have been the scenes
of great historic events and of magnificent hospitality, but here, one
after another, the Presidents of the United States have really lived
and been at home.
Its furnishings have, undoubtedly, been changed many times and
yet I found it to contain many old and interesting pieces. The most
striking object in the room was an enormous four-poster bed with a
great curved canopy of wood, decorated with carved and gilded
eagles and upholding heavy draperies of blue and white brocade. In
this bed, we had been told, the Prince of Wales slept when he visited
this country in 1860, but on the first night I discovered that,
whatever its historic interest, I did not like it as a bed to sleep in. I
soon replaced it with two smaller mahogany beds and I dispensed
altogether with the draperies. There were canopies of the same
gilded eagles over the windows, and the curtains suspended from
them, as well as the upholstery of the sofa and chairs, were of the
same blue and white brocade. Some of the furniture was colonial,
some Victorian. The colonial furniture in the White House is very
good and there is quite a lot of it in all the bedrooms, but many of the
bureaus and wardrobes are of the scarcely-to-be-called beautiful
style of the Victorian era. I secured for our room, later on, the beds, a
dressing-table and some chairs, all colonial. These were about the
only pieces of furniture I bought for the White House. I also
substituted heavy chintz for the brocade draperies and upholstery,
and did away with the canopies entirely, as they seemed to me to be
too heavy for a sleeping room. The small room in the corner of our
suite Mr. Taft used for a dressing-room.
The corresponding suite across the hall I gave to Helen, my
daughter. It had been occupied by both of the Misses Roosevelt and
before them, I believe, by Mrs. McKinley. It had been fitted up in
pretty flowered chintz for Miss Ethel Roosevelt, after Miss Alice had
married, and we left it unchanged.
I strolled down the hall, which contains only a large table and a
few portraits of Presidents for which there is no wall space down
stairs, and looked into the Library which is exactly in the center of
the house on the south side. It is oval like the Blue Drawing Room
beneath it and it is a little dark in the daytime, being shaded by the
roof of the south portico. This was Mrs. Roosevelt’s favourite room
and it had been fitted most charmingly with many of her own
belongings, but as they were now gone and my own had not yet been
moved in, it looked rather bare. The furniture had not been
upholstered for many years and it was a little shabby. Later on I had
it all recovered and the walls of the room retinted, and when I had
put in some of the Oriental tapestries and handsome pieces of
furniture which I had brought with me from the Far East it made a
very beautiful and livable room. We used it a great deal, especially
when there were guests, but for the family the sitting-room at the
end of the hall was always the favourite gathering place.
Opposite the Library a short corridor extends to the window under
the roof of the front portico and on each side of this doors open into
smaller bedrooms; smaller, that is, in comparison with the four large
ones. Even these would be considered large in an ordinary house.
One of them I assigned to the housekeeper and the other to my two
sons. The boys’ room was rather dark, with its windows directly
under the roof of the portico; and it was furnished, moreover, in dark
red, a colour which does not add light to gloominess, but the boys got
it because they were the members of the family who would care the
least and who would be the most away.
The great staircase descends from the central hall just beyond
these rooms and facing the staircase is the President’s Study. The
eastern end of the building was all used as offices until the new
offices were built and the house restored in accordance with the
original plan. The Presidents with large families must, indeed, have
been in an uncomfortable situation when they had to confine
themselves to the rooms in the west end, the only rooms then
available for living purposes. The facts are that such families found
the house to be less commodious than a “five-room flat,” as the wife
of one President expressed it. I believe the Roosevelts, until the
house was remodelled, were unable to accommodate one guest.
 © Harris & Ewing.

TWO WHITE HOUSE BEDROOMS

SHOWING FINE OLD COLONIAL BEDS

There is a story that when Prince Henry of Prussia was in

Washington, President Roosevelt invited him to ride. The Prince
accepted and just before the appointed hour appeared at the White
House in his street clothes, accompanied by a valet bearing his riding
clothes. He had very naturally expected to change at the White
House, but it happened that on that day there was not one room that
could even be prepared for a Royal dressing-room, so the President
was compelled to request His Highness to return to the German
Embassy to change. I believe this incident had the effect of hastening
the deliberations of the members of the Appropriations Committee
of the House who were then leisurely figuring on the amount
necessary for the restoration.
Senator McMillan, who was at the head of the District Committee
in the Senate, and who, in his lifetime was the leading spirit in the
improvement of Washington, in the revival of the L’Enfant plan, and
in the creation of a Commission of Fine Arts to pass upon
contemplated structures and changes, conferred with Mr. and Mrs.
Roosevelt and with Senator Allison of the Appropriations
Committee, and by an amendment in the Senate, in the spring of
1902, to which Speaker Cannon and the House Appropriations
Committee assented, the necessary funds for this restoration were
eventually provided and, most fortunately, the whole work was
committed to Mr. James McKim, of McKim, Meade and White, who,
among all the architectural monuments to his genius which he left,
left no greater evidence of his mastery of his art than this. He added
the gracefully beautiful terraces on either side, equipped with electric
light standards, and in accord, really, with the original plan of the
house, and utilised them in a most ingenious way. He made of the
one on the west a very dignified and convenient approach, through
the basement, for large companies attending state entertainments.
Cloak stands for the accommodation of thousands were fitted into
each side of this passageway and guests now are able to dispose of
their wraps and proceed to the staircase leading up to the main hall
on the first floor without the slightest interruption or discomfort.
The ample and airy space beneath the high portico on the south
side was used for domestic offices and servants’ quarters, thus
greatly increasing the capacity of the house, and the construction of
the very convenient executive office building, reached by a covered,
or cloistered passage from the White House basement, was carried
out on lines so like in style and appearance to the north portico, so
low and classically simple, that it detracts nothing from the general
effect and interferes in no way with the dignified outlines of the
home of the Nation’s Chief Magistrate.
During the reconstruction the President and Mrs. Roosevelt lived
either at Oyster Bay or in a house a few steps from the White House
on Lafayette Square. Mr. McKim frequently consulted Mrs.
Roosevelt as to interior changes and many of her views were
adopted, so that the woman’s side of the new White House was well
looked after.
The work took longer and cost more than was expected and this
elicited much criticism of the architect as well as of the architectural
result. His aim had been to make as little outward change in the
main lines as possible and yet to make as great a change as space
would permit in interior accommodation. Considering what he had
to accomplish his success was remarkable. But the Philistines among
the Congressmen and Senators, who don’t like architects anyway,
found much to complain of. In their daily visits to the President they
did not, by Mr. McKim’s plan, reach him through the historic front
entrance, supported by the great, white pillars, but they were
relegated to a business office, simply and conveniently equipped, and
it offended the sense of due proportion of some of them as to who
were the real power in the government, the legislative
representatives calling on business or the social guests of the
President.
But now, after all the ignorance, ill-feeling and prejudice displayed
in the most unjust attacks upon Mr. McKim, those whose judgment
is worth anything, and that includes the whole body of the people of
the United States, rejoice in their hearts that the greatest of
American architects was given a free hand to adapt to modern needs,
but also to preserve in its dignity and beauty, this most appropriate
official home of the Head of the Republic.
These observations may not be in place just here, but they
occurred to me on the first evening of my occupancy of the White
House, and I congratulated myself that I was to enjoy the results of
that successful reconstruction of what had been a most
uncomfortable mansion.
The President’s Study, as it is now called, is the only room of the
old Executive offices which has not been changed into a sleeping
room. It is now the President’s more personal office where he can
receive callers more privately than in the new office building. A small
bronze tablet under the mantel tells, in simple words, the history of
the room. Here all the Presidents since Johnson held their Cabinet
meetings, and here the Protocol suspending hostilities with Spain
was signed in McKinley’s administration. A picture of that event,
painted by Chartran, hangs in the room and conveys a remarkably
vivid impression of the men who had a part in it. The faces of
President McKinley, of Justice Day, who was then Secretary of State,
and of M. Cambon, the French Ambassador, are especially striking.
This room, in which there had been a great many personal mementos
gathered by Mr. Roosevelt in his interesting career, also looked, after
their removal, rather bare on that evening of my first inspection and,
save for the pictures and the tablet, had little in its character to make
real in one’s mind the great events that it had witnessed. Yet, as I
roamed around that evening, the whole house was haunted for me by
memories of the great men and the charming women whose most
thrilling moments, perhaps, had been spent under its roof, and I was
unable to feel that such a commonplace person as I had any real
place there. This feeling passed, however, for though I was always
conscious of the character which a century of history had impressed
upon the White House, it came, nevertheless, to feel as much like
home as any house I have ever occupied. That Study, which seemed
at the moment so much a part of American history and so little even
a temporary possession of the Taft family, was later hung with
amusing cartoons illustrative of events in Mr. Taft’s career, with
photographs of his friends, and with what are called at Yale
“memorabilia” of his varied experiences, and it became, in time, for
us all, peculiarly his room.
The Blue Bedroom, where we had slept the night before as guests
of the Roosevelts, belongs to one of the four corner suites and I
planned to give it to my sister Eleanor, Mrs. Louis More, and her
husband, while the smaller room in the same suite I assigned to Miss
Torrey, our Aunt Delia—and during our administration apparently
the country’s “Aunt Delia.” She had been staying with us at the
Boardmans’ and was probably enjoying the Inauguration of her
nephew more than anyone in Washington. The last of the suites,
which was exactly like the blue suite except that it was hung in pink
brocade, I gave to my husband’s sister and brother-in-law, Dr. and
Mrs. Edwards of San Diego.
When I had finished my explorations and arrangements I glanced
at the clock in the Pink Room and discovered that I had no time to
lose before beginning that important toilet which would make me
ready for the Inaugural Ball, the last, but not the least of the
Inaugural functions.
 I hurried to my room and found the hairdresser waiting for me. I
sat down with a feeling of great comfort and submitted myself with
hopeful patience to her ministrations. But she was so overcome by
the greatness of the occasion that, although she was quite
accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of my hair, she was not able to
make it “go right” until she had put it up and taken it down twice,
and even then it was not as perfectly done as I had fondly hoped it
would be. I believe this hairdressing process made me more nervous
than anything else in the whole course of the day.
While it was going on, my new gown lay glittering on the bed,
where the maid had placed it, and I was very anxious to get into it. It
had given me several days of awful worry. It was made in New York
and the dressmaker had promised that I should have it at least a
week before it was needed so that any necessary changes could easily
be made. But day after day went by and no dress,—the third of March
arrived and then I began, frantically, to telegraph. I finally received
the reassuring advice that the dress was on its way in the hands of a
special messenger, but the special messenger was, with many other
people, held up for hours by the blizzard and did not arrive at the
Boardmans’ until after I had left for the White House, wondering,
disconsolately, what on earth I should wear to the Inaugural Ball if it
happened that the messenger couldn’t get there at all. The suspense
had been fearful and it was a comfortable relief to see the gown all
spread out and waiting for me.
It was made of heavy white satin which I had sent to Tokyo to have
embroidered, and the people who did the work surely knew their art.
A pattern of golden-rod was outlined by a silver thread and cleverly
fitted into the long lines of the gown, and no other trimming had
been used except some lace with which the low-cut bodice was
finished. It fitted me admirably and I hoped that, in spite of all the
mishaps in my preparations, I looked my best as I descended from
the White House automobile at the entrance of the Pension Office.
The Pension Office was not built for balls, Inaugural or otherwise,
and on the evening of March Fourth, 1909, after a day of melting
sleet and snow, the entrance was not especially inviting. Neither was
the dressing-room which had been assigned to me. I suppose that for
years it had rung with the ceaseless click of scores of typewriters and
that its walls had beheld no more elaborate costume than a business
blouse and skirt since the occasion of the last Inaugural Ball which
had marked the beginning of the second Roosevelt administration
four years before. But as I needed to do very little “prinking” it really
didn’t matter and I quickly rejoined the President and proceeded, on
his arm, to the Presidential Box, this being a small round gallery
above the main entrance of the great ballroom which is itself, in
everyday life, the principal workroom of the Pension Office.
A brilliant, an almost kaleidoscopic scene spread before us. The
hall is of tremendous proportions, pillared with red marble and with
walls tinted in the same colour. Every inch of floor space seemed to
be occupied. The bright colours and the gleam of women’s gowns
met and clashed, or harmonised with the brighter colours of
diplomatic uniforms. Officers of the Army and Navy, in full regalia,
mingled with the hundreds of men in the plain black of formal
evening dress. It was a wonderful glittering throng, more
magnificent than any I have ever seen. It was not possible to
distinguish individuals except in the space directly below the box, but
there, as I looked down, I saw a great semi-circle of faces—
thousands, it seemed to me—smilingly upturned toward us. The din
of human voices was terrific; even the loudest band procurable had
difficulty in making itself heard. But the scene was so gay in colour,
and the faces that gazed up at us were so friendly and happy that I
felt elated and not at all overwhelmed.
The first person whom my eyes rested upon in the box was Aunt
Delia, already installed in a chair near the back and drinking in the
scene with visible pleasure. Aunt Delia, at that time, was eighty-three
years old, but not for anything would she have missed one feature of
this crowning day of her life. Having no children of her own, she had
for many years given the greater part of her thought and interest to
her nephews and nieces, and she followed every step in my
husband’s career with an absorption, not to say an excitement, as
great as my own. All day long she had travelled from ceremony to
ceremony, conducted by Lieutenant Reed, one of the Naval aides.
She would arrive, leaning on his arm, among the first at each
appointed place, ready and eager for any new event. She didn’t miss
even the late supper of birds, salads and ices which was served to us
later that night, before we left the Ball. And now she sat in the
President’s Box, her soft, white hair arranged by the best hairdresser,
gowned in rich, old-fashioned, black velvet, adorned with all the
good old lace which she had been treasuring for years for an occasion
justifying its display.
The Vice-President and Mrs. Sherman arrived shortly after we did
and shared the box with us. They also had with them a large family
party and were both so jolly and so much in the festive spirit that
formality disappeared. Many friends and officials of distinction
came, in the course of the evening, to pay their respects; and
members of our own family came and went at intervals as they were
inclined.
I may as well say here that my husband and I both came from such
large families that all Washington, at the time of the Inauguration,
seemed filled with our near and dear relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Charles
P. Taft took a comfortable house for ten days, while Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Taft and Mr. Horace Taft were at the New Willard.
About eleven o’clock the President and I descended to the
ballroom floor, followed by Vice-President and Mrs. Sherman and, as
is the custom, proceeded slowly down the length of the hall and back
between the closely packed rows of people who stood aside to make
room for our promenade. This ceremonious parade was not as trying
for me as it may sound, for not only did I have the reassurance of my
husband’s arm, but the crowd was too large to seem very personal.
So I was quite serene, except for frequent spasms of anxiety lest my
gorgeous length of train be stepped on.
Except for this ceremony, and for a short supper which was served
to us and a few invited guests in a private room, the President and I
remained in the box until shortly after one o’clock when we once
more descended and made our way to a waiting automobile which
very quickly whisked us away to much needed rest.
However, I must still have had energy enough left to worry over
domestic arrangements since the last thing I remember of that
eventful day was a hearty laugh from my husband when I exclaimed
in sleepy tones: “I wonder where we had all better have breakfast in
the morning!”
 CHAPTER XVII
THE WHITE HOUSE

The members of my family, and especially my children, are prone

to indulgence in good-natured personalities and they like to make
the most of my serious attitude toward my domestic responsibilities,
saying that I make them three times as difficult as they need be by a
too positive insistence on my own methods.
Perhaps I did make the process of adjusting the White House
routine to my own conceptions a shade too strenuous, but I could not
feel that I was mistress of any house if I did not take an active
interest in all the details of running it.
The management of the White House is, of course, a larger task
than many women are ever called upon to perform, and, incidentally,
the same “white light that beats upon a throne” sheds its sometimes
uncomfortable radiance upon the usually unprepared heads of
America’s Chief Executive and his family. Accustomed as I had been
for years to publicity, yet it came as a sort of shock to me that nearly
everything I did, and especially my slightest innovation, had what the
reporters call “news value.”
I have lived too much in other countries ever to underestimate the
importance of outward form, yet I think I may claim a wholesome
regard for and a constant acquiescence in the principles of
democratic simplicity, though not the kind of “democratic simplicity”
which is usually written in quotation marks.
I made very few changes, really. As a matter of fact no President’s
wife ever needs to unless she so desires, because the White House is
a governmental institution thoroughly equipped and always in good
running order. Each new mistress of the house has absolute
authority, of course, and can do exactly as she pleases, just as she
would in any other home, but in the beginning I confined my efforts
largely to minor matters connected with the house service itself. I
wished to install certain members of the house personnel of my own
choosing, and this I did. Later I made some changes in a few
important social usages.
There are certain duties connected with the White House routine
which have been performed by the same employés throughout one
Administration after another and each new President’s wife finds
these men invaluable and wonders, I am sure, how the White House
could ever be run without them. For instance, there are Mr. Warren
S. Young, who has been for thirty years the Social Executive Officer,
and Colonel W. H. Crook, who became Chief Custodian under
Lincoln in 1865 and is holding the same office to-day. The duties of
each of these men are delicate in the extreme, but they know their
work down to the minutest detail and it would be difficult to measure
their value to the woman who, in public opinion, is wholly
responsible for the White House.
As to my own innovations, I decided in the first place to have, at all
hours, footmen in livery at the White House door to receive visitors
and give instructions to sightseers. Before my time there had been
only “gentlemen ushers” who were in no way distinguishable from
any other citizen and many a time I have seen strangers wander up to
the door looking in vain for someone to whom it seemed right and
proper to address a question or to hand a visiting card. The
gentlemen ushers I retained, the head usher, Mr. Hoover, having
become invaluable through similar service under every
Administration since Cleveland’s first, but I put six coloured men in
blue livery at the door, two at a time, relieving each other at intervals,
and I think many a timid visitor has had reason to be thankful for the
change. Incidentally they lend a certain air of formal dignity to the
entrance which, in my opinion, it has always lacked.
These footmen received everybody who sought to enter the White
House. If it happened to be a party of tourists they were directed to
such parts of the building as are open to the public at stated hours; if
it were a caller, either social or official, he or she was conducted to
one of the drawing rooms. But sensible as this innovation seemed to
me, it met a varied criticism from the adherents, sincere and
otherwise, of our too widely vaunted “democratic simplicity.”
 Another change I made was the substitution of a housekeeper for a
steward. I wanted a woman who could relieve me of the supervision
of such details as no man, expert steward though he might be, would
ever recognise. The White House requires such ordinary attention as
is given by a good housekeeper to any house, except, perhaps, that it
has to be more vigilantly watched. Dust accumulates in corners;
mirrors and picture glasses get dim with dampness; curtains sag or
lose their crispness; floors lose their gloss; rugs turn up at corners or
fray at the ends; chair covers get crumpled; cushions get crushed and
untidy; things get out of order generally; and it is a very large house.
Kitchen helpers grow careless and neglect their shining copper pots
and pans and kettles; pantry boys forget and send in plates or glasses
not polished to perfection; maids forget to be immaculate and linen
is not properly handled; they are just like employés in other homes
and they need a woman’s guidance and control. I engaged my
housekeeper before my husband’s Inauguration and she reported for
duty on the morning of March fifth.
If I could remember how many turkeys the President gives away
every Christmas I could tell just how many persons there are in the
White House service. I know it is something like one hundred, but
they go to employés of all kinds, to important house officials, to
minor officials, to servants of high and low degree, to gardeners,
stable boys, chauffeurs and all.
The staff of the White House proper is not so numerous, eighteen
or twenty perhaps, including cooks, kitchen maids, butlers, boys,
housemaids and laundresses. There was one coloured cook, Alice,
who prepared the meals for the servants’ dining-room and who had
been in the White House twenty years.
My head cook, whom I engaged, was Swedish. She was a miracle of
a cook, but she displayed a romantic tendency as well. She must have
been about forty, apparently quite staid, when she acquired a
husband, a policeman on duty at the White House, and, in due
course, a baby. She had been married only a little over a year when
her husband contracted tuberculosis. We had always been very much
interested in her, deploring the home-making tendency which took
her away from us, so when we learned of her misfortune Mr. Taft
immediately took steps to have her husband sent to Ft. Bayard, the
Military Tuberculosis Sanatorium in New Mexico. The cook, who