James H. Harriston
- Position
- Doorkeeper
- Years in President's House
- 1953 – 1986
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
James Henry Harriston was born on August 1, 1905, in Wentworth, North Carolina. By 1940, he was living in Washington, D.C., and working at the Army and Navy Club.1 It is unclear when he began working at the White House but he was employed as Doorman there by 1953. Fellow Doorman Preston Bruce stated that he and Harriston greeted guests arriving for a formal dinner to honor Supreme Court justices in 1953. The two doormen escorted the guests upstairs to meet President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.2
Harriston was still working as a doorman in 1961 when President John Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy moved into the White House. According to Usher J.B. West, Harriston, “the silent, genial doorman,” greeted Jacqueline Kennedy and opened the door for her when she arrived at the White House for the first time.3 Harriston was invited to President Kennedy’s funeral in 1963 alongside other staff members.4
He was still working as doorman on November 21, 1980, when President-Elect Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan visited the White House to meet with departing President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. According to newspaper accounts, Harriston greeted the Reagans at the front door and escorted them inside the residence.5
He retired from the White House staff in 1986. Harriston passed away in April 1988.6
- “James Henry Harriston,” World War II Draft Registration Cards for District of Columbia, National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, Records of the Selective Service System 147, Box 100, 6397247
- Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984), 24.
- J.B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc., 1973), 192.
- “Funeral Services,” November 25, 1963, Paper of John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwhsfslf-027-008#?image_identifier=JFKWHSFSLF-027-008-p0062
- Gilbert A. Lewthwaite, “Reagan greeted - after delay,” Baltimore Sun, November 21, 1980, pg. 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/377554180/?match=1&terms="James Harriston" AND "White House"
- “James H. Harriston,” U.S. Social Security Index, Social Security Adminsitration, Washington, D.C., Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/25935340?tid=&pid=&queryId=5c644e1c-9621-4e42-bf8e-2f29501e384c&_phsrc=KCT690&_phstart=successSource; White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026.
- Birthplace
- Wentworth, North Carolina, USA
- Unclear from context