White House Historical Association

Patrick E. McKenna

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"Patrick E. McKenna," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/542.
Positions
Doorkeeper
Usher
Clerk
Years in President's House
1903 – 1940
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography
Patrick E. McKenna, better known as “Pat," was born in Ireland around 1876. He later immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.1 In 1903, he was hired as an usher at the White House; his obituaries suggest that President Theodore Roosevelt met McKenna at a yacht club near his home in Oyster Bay, New York, and brought him to the White House.2 Although Pat held several titles at the White House over the thirty-seven years that followed, including usher and chief of messengers, his primary role was doorkeeper to the president.3 Sometimes called “the president’s watchdog” and “the president’s alarm clock,” McKenna sat at a desk outside of the president’s office in the West Wing, managing visitors and ensuring that appointments remained on schedule.4 As one newspaper wrote: “Reticence, modesty, politeness, tactfulness, punctuality, and efficiency are all characteristics of McKenna’s personality.”5 Because of his very visible role, McKenna was known to many prominent individuals and developed close relationships with the presidents he served. When he unexpectedly fell ill in 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent his personal physician, Vice Admiral Ross T. McIntire, to care for McKenna. He also dispatched his personal secretary, Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, with a handwritten message that read: “Come back, Pat. I need you.”6 But McKenna never returned to the White House. After he passed away on July 1, 1940, over five hundred people attended his funeral, including former cabinet members and White House staff. The Roosevelts sent a wreath for his casket, and White House Police formed an honor guard during his burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.7 Roosevelt issued the following statement upon his death: “Because I have always thought of Pat McKenna as one of my oldest personal friends, I am grieved and shocked by his death…Nobody can ever quite replace him.”8
  1. Patrick E McKenna in the 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 0063; FHL microfilm: 2340028, Ancestry.com; Dedrick E Mckenna in the 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T625_213; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 317, Ancestry.com.
  2. “New Ushers at White House,” The News, July 2, 1903, pg. 1; “White House Aide Dies Suddenly,” The Tablet, July 6, 1940, pg. 6. In the White House, McKenna worked with his brother-in-law, Engineer Edward A. Norris. McKenna may have introduced Norris to his sister, Mary.
  3. Ibid; “Many Changes at White House,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 4, 1909, pg. 6.
  4. “Another Hoover in White House After March 4,” Republican and Herald, February 26, 1929, pg. 2; “President’s Alarm Clock,” Kansas City Journal, September 26, 1915, pg. 24.; “Executive Staff Completes Move,” Evening Star, July 30, 1934, pg. 2.
  5. “President’s Alarm Clock,” Kansas City Journal, September 26, 1915, pg. 24.
  6. “President Sends Personal Note to McKenna, Ill Aide,” Washington Daily News, July 1, 1940, pg. 40, Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82016181/1940-07-01/ed-1/.
  7. “500 Attend Rites for ‘Pat’ McKenna at St. Stephen’s,” Evening Star, July 4, 1940, pg. 3; “McKenna, Patrick E.,” Evening Star, July 2, 1940, pg. 12; “‘Pat’ McKenna Rites Set for St. Stephen’s Thursday,” Evening Star, July 2, 1940, pg. 12, Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83045462/1940-07-02/ed-1/.
  8. “White House Aide Dies Suddenly,” The Tablet, July 6, 1940, pg. 6.
Birthplace
Ireland
Mount Olivet Cemetery
Related Workers
Edward A. Norris
Trades, 1892 – 1932
George S. Vincent
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, circa 1903
Rose
Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1901 – 1909
Anna
Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1901 – 1909
Mary
Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1901 – 1909
Annie
Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1901 – 1909
B.E. McKenner
circa 1928
Related Association Content
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/memoirs-of-isabella-hagner-1901-1905