Paul D. Fischer

Paul Donald Fischer was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on October 13, 1928.¹ Fischer served as an Electrian’s Mate Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.² Afterward, he worked on the presidential yacht USS Williamsburg. Fischer recalled that in 1953 a “request came from the military office for a person who knew how to run 35 mm film,” and when he offered his own skills, Fischer was assigned to the White House.³ Thus, he began a decades-long career as the projectionist in the White House Movie Theatre, showing Westerns to Dwight D. Eisenhower, foreign films to the Kennedys, and G-rated films to First Daughter Amy Carter.⁴ Fischer kept handwritten logs of every movie screened there, providing fascinating insight into presidential tastes.⁵ 

Paul Fischer retired from the White House in 1986.⁶ In 2003, his movie logs inspired the creation of All the Presidents' Movies, a BRAVO documentary about presidential film screenings at the White House.⁷ Fischer passed away on August 9, 2007, and was buried at Culpeper National Cemetery in Culpeper, Virginia.⁸