George W. Thompson

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"George W. Thompson," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/1007.

Positions: Houseman; Floorman
Years in President's House: circa 1944 – 1961
Legal Status: Free Person
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Black or African American
Presidencies: Franklin D. Roosevelt; Harry S. Truman; Dwight D. Eisenhower; John F. Kennedy
Biography: George Washington Thompson was born on September 24, 1908, in Hamilton, Virginia. (1) Little is known about his early life, but by 1940, he lived in Washington, D.C. and worked at a laundromat. (2) As early as 1944, he was working at the White House as a houseman and floorman; his responsibilities included vacuuming, moving furniture, carrying luggage, and managing day to day upkeep of the Residence. (3) Maid Lillian Rogers Parks recalled one incident where Thompson set the fire alarm off while vacuuming during Harry S. Truman’s presidency, writing in her memoir: “George said ‘I’m sorry’ and continued sweeping as though nothing had happened. Watching George try to maintain his dignity set me to laughing until the tears ran down my cheeks. After that, he was careful not to bang into the fire alarm attachment.” (4) Parks also noted in her memoir that he was a “likeable houseman” nicknamed “Jockey” because he was only 5 ft. 5 inches tall. (5) By the Eisenhower years, several other housemen had retired or departed, leaving George Thompson to manage all of the cleaning of the Second and Third Floors alone. Once, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower saw Thompson using the elevator, which she thought should be used exclusively by the first family, and scolded him; she asked Chief Usher J. B. West to prohibit staff from using the family elevator as a result. (6) The year of Thompson’s retirement from the White House is unclear, but he served there through at least the start of the Kennedy administration in 1961. (7) George W. Thompson died on May 20, 1979, and was buried at Mount Olive Baptist Church Cemetery in Lincoln, Virginia. (8)
: (1) George Washington Thompson, U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Virginia, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 732, Ancestry.com.
(2) Ibid.
(3) "Roster of White House Employees, Revised, April 1, 1944," Folder: Investigative Case Files, 1934-1945, Records of the United States Secret Service, 1933-1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. Lillian Rogers Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House (Fleet Publishing Co., 1961), pg. 287, 305.
(4) Lillian Rogers Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House (Fleet Publishing Co., 1961), pg. 287.
(5) Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, 319; George Washington Thompson, U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Virginia, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 732, Ancestry.com.
(6) Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, 522; J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan, 1973), 133.
(7) White House Staff Christmas Gift List of Bess W. Truman, 1946, Christmas Lists Subject File, Bess W. Truman Papers, Harry S. Truman Library, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/139308529; “Memorandum to President Harry S. Truman re Salary Increases for White House Employees,” November 1, 1951, White House Files: President's Secretary's Files, Harry S. Truman Library, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/354584155; George W Thompson, 1950 United States Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: All Places, Arlington, Virginia; Roll: 732; Page: 16; Enumeration District: 7-22, Ancestry.com; Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers. Textual Materials. Letitia Baldrige Files. Christmas: 1961 (2 of 2 folders). JBKOPP-SF037-009. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
(8) George Washington Thompson, Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014, Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, VA, USA; Virginia, Deaths, 1912-2014, Ancestry.com.
Birthplace: Hamilton, Virginia, USA

Related Workers: Lillian Rogers Parks
Housekeeping and Laundry, 1929 – 1960; James B. West
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1941 – 1969