Henry Haller

Henry Haller was born in Altdorf, Switzerland, on January 10, 1923, and attended culinary school.¹ In 1949, Haller moved to Canada and then New York City where he found employment as a chef in several luxury hotels.² According to an interview Haller gave later in life, he decided to move to the United States because of “the prestige [the US] had” after World War II.³ In 1966, the White House hired him to be executive chef when the previous chef to hold the position, Rene Verdon, resigned after frustrations with President Lyndon Johnson’s barbeque-heavy diet.⁴ Johnson was familiar with Haller’s cooking, having eaten at one of his hotels in New York.⁵

Haller served as executive chef from 1966 until 1987 and cooked for five presidents, which makes him the longest-serving executive chef in White House history. As executive chef, Haller was in charge of the White House kitchen staff and had to manage daily meals for the first family along with official functions including more than 150 State Dinners held during his tenure.⁶ Recalling his career from retirement, Haller stated the busiest time was the summer of 1976 - the nation’s bicentennial - during which the White House hosted seven state dinners including one with Queen Elizabeth II.⁷ Haller described the preparation for the Queen’s dinner as “absolutely nuts.”⁸ Haller also assisted White House pastry chefs in the creation of the cake for First Daughter Tricia Nixon’s wedding held in the Rose Garden in 1971. The press dubbed the seven-foot-tall, 350 pound cake “Washington’s newest monument.”⁹ On the morning President Nixon resigned, he entered the kitchen in his pajamas, shook Haller’s hand and told him: “Chef, I have eaten all over the world, but your food is the best.”¹⁰

In 1987, Haller published The White House Cookbook, containing recipes and reminiscences from his time in the White House. That same year, he retired.¹¹ Haller died on November 7, 2020, at age ninety-three.¹² He is buried in Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum in New York.¹³ In 2018, Haller’s family donated materials from his time as Executive Chef, including photographs, menus, and correspondence with presidents, to The White House Historical Association, which digitized them and made them available online as The Henry Haller Collection.