White House Historical Association

Benjamin X Harrison

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"Benjamin X Harrison," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/1073.
Position
Houseman
Years in President's House
1954 – 1986
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidencies
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Biography
Benjamin X Harrison was born on August 20, 1917.1 The Association will sometimes use an “X” to denote when a person’s middle name is unknown. In this instance, the X is used to distinguish this staff member from the former president with the same name. He joined the White House staff in 1954. White House Doorman Preston Bruce mentions him in his memoir From the Door of the White House. According to Bruce, in 1953 White House staff including Harrison prepared for a formal dinner held in honor of Supreme Court justices. “I could feel the tension starting two days before the dinner as Ben Harrison and the other housemen started an orgy of cleaning. They knew Mrs. Eisenhower’s eagle eye would spot a speck of dust or a fingerprint, and they weren’t anxious to displease her.”2 In 1961, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy included Harrison on her staff Christmas Card list and identified him as a Houseman who worked on the first and ground floor.3 A list of White House staff compiled during the presidency of Gerald R. Ford lists Harrison as “Houseman Foreman,” so we know he led the department by that time.4 He reitred in 1986. Harrison passed away on April 11, 2003.5
  1. (Box 29, folder “Birthdays (Residence Staff)” of the Betty Ford White House Papers, 1973-1977 at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0018/81556614.pdf  
  2. White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026; Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984), 22.
  3. “Christmas: 1961,” Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Digital Archives, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jbkopp-sf037-009#?image_identifier=JBKOPP-SF037-009-p0050  
  4. Box 29, folder “Birthdays (Residence Staff)” of the Betty Ford White House Papers, 1973-1977 at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0018/81556614.pdf  
  5. White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026. “Benjamin Harrison” in U.S. Social Security index, 1953-2014, Social Security Administration, Washington, D.C., Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/70955436?tid=&pid=&queryId=6f79e201-c175-428d-8d20-a697a69d73d5&_phsrc=KCT675&_phstart=successSource 
Birthplace
North Carolina, USA
Unclear from context