Hans Raffert
Cite this Page
"Hans Raffert," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/1183.
- Position
- Chef
- Years in President's House
- 1969 – 1992
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- Hans Raffert was born in Hanover, Germany, on March 11, 1927. (1) He started working in the kitchen at fourteen and completed a cooking apprenticeship by seventeen. To avoid being conscripted into the infantry, he enlisted as a cook in the German Navy, a decision he credited with saving his life. (2) Raffert moved to the United States in 1957 and worked eight years at Hotel Washington near the White House. (3) In 1969, he was hired as a sous-chef under Executive Chef Henry Haller just days before Haller left for a family vacation, leaving Raffert to take the lead on one of his first White House dinners. (4) That Christmas Raffert created an A-frame style gingerbread house and continued to make them for years to come; this choice created a tradition of annual White House gingerbread houses that continues today. (5)
In 1988, Raffert was promoted to executive chef. (6) As the Reagans transitioned out of the White House, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush moved from the vice presidency to the presidency. Bush became the second president Raffert served as executive chef, but his first full administration. The Bushes were more spontaneous residents, often inviting guests to a family dinner on the same day, prompting Raffert to rely on quick, reliable menus. However, this didn’t mean the Bushes ate simple meals—they were adventurous diners, eager to try anything. The kitchen staff, including Raffert, enjoyed impressing them with elaborate dishes, from quail and squab to rabbit and a variety of seafood. (7)
In October 1992, Raffert retired after over two decades at the White House. (8) Raffert continued cooking and sharing his homemade meals and gingerbread houses with the public. (9) Hans Raffert died on March 3, 2005, and is buried at Mount Comfort Cemetery in Fairfax County, Virginia. (10) - (1) "Hans Raffert," Ancestry, accessed January 24, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/45060536?tid=&pid=&queryId=3850e0c2-fc42-4e00-8be1-bc7f618f855e&_phsrc=pzr124&_phstart=successSource.
(2) Some sources suggest that Raffert served in the German Navy under the Nazis, explaining that he volunteered as a cook to avoid being conscripted as an infantryman. However, concrete documentation on this is limited.
“Ex-Presidential Chef Offers Insight on Food, First Families,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 23, 1994, 26, https://www.newspapers.com/image/89544368/?match=1&terms=%22Hans%20F.%20Raffert%22.
(3) “Ex-Presidential Chef Offers Insight on Food, First Families,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 23, 1994, 26, https://www.newspapers.com/image/89544368/?match=1&terms=%22Hans%20F.%20Raffert%22.
(4) "New Chef at the White House to Cook Republican Feast," Reno Gazette-Journal, July 17, 1969, 11, https://www.newspapers.com/image/149630837/?match=1&terms=Hans%20Raffert.https://www.newspapers.com/image/149630837/?match=1&terms=Hans%20Raffert.
(5) "Perpetrating a White House Tradition," Los Angeles Times, December 4, 1995, 115, https://www.newspapers.com/image/155493205/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert.
(6)"White House Chooses Chef from Within," New York Times, March 4, 1988, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/04/us/white-house-chooses-chef-from-within.html.
(7) Phyllis Richman, "Bush White House Offers Taste of Smallville, U.S.A." The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, KS), June 7, 1989, 24, https://www.newspapers.com/image/702232259/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert.
(8) Lorrie Lynch, "Who's News," Star-Herald, January 31, 1993, 36, https://www.newspapers.com/image/988548107/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert.
(9) "A White House Dinner," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 22, 1999, 51, https://www.newspapers.com/image/94309567/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert; Charles Perry, "Home Sweet Home," Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1996, 112, https://www.newspapers.com/image/158043591/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert; "Too Many Chefs in the Kitchen?: Come See What’s Cooking at the Nixon Library," Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1994, 194, https://www.newspapers.com/image/158913863/?match=1&terms=hans%20raffert.
(10) "Hans Raffert," Ancestry, accessed January 24, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/45060536?tid=&pid=&queryId=3850e0c2-fc42-4e00-8be1-bc7f618f855e&_phsrc=pzr124&_phstart=successSource. - Birthplace
- Hanover, Germany