Milton Pitts
Cite this Page
"Milton Pitts," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/1181.
- Position
- White House Barber
- Years in President's House
- 1970 – 1977
- 1981 – circa 1993
- Biography
- Milton Pitts was called “the Chagall of male coif” and “the Leonardo of political locks” by the American media, but to presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, he was the White House Barber.
When Pitts first came to Washington, D.C. from South Carolina as a young man, he opened a barber shop on Connecticut Avenue. Pitts later became well-acquainted with politicians, diplomats, and other prominent Washingtonians while working as a barber at the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel near the White House.
In fact, Milton Pitts was a mainstay in the nation’s capital. Thanks to his talent and popularity among D.C. politicians, Pitts was invited to serve as presidential barber during the Nixon administration, setting up a small barber shop in the basement of the West Wing in 1970 (below). There, Pitts cut and styled the presidents, and their proximity often led to unique friendships. He also cut the hair of senior White House staff and cabinet members.
Though Pitts was a well-known barber in Washington, D.C., anyone could make an appointment with him at the Sheraton-Carlton for just $35 a cut—warning that “he does not promise he can make everyone look presidential but guarantees that he can make anyone look respectable.” Pitts passed away in 1994. (See “Making a Pitts Stop,” New York Times, April 16, 1985; David Binder, “Milton Pitts, Barber of Four Presidents,” New York Times, December 28, 1994; Barbara Gamarekian, “Who Has the Best Hair? Only He Knows for Sure,” New York Times, September 2, 1983) (NOT kept on staff for Carter and Clinton)