White House Historical Association

Alice Howard

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"Alice Howard," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/572.
Position
Cook
Years in President's House
circa 1900 – 1914
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidencies
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Biography
Alice Howard was born in 1854 in West Virginia. She married and became a widow before making her way to the White House. In the 1900 census, Howard is listed as a servant.1 A 1914 newspaper article specifies that she was an assistant cook for fifteen years, suggesting that she began working at the White House around the time of the 1900 census.2 While there, Howard gained a reputation as an exceptional cook. In fact, newspapers claimed her cooking caused President William Howard Taft to gain substantial weight during his time in office.3 And it was not just Taft; Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were also fond of her food, particularly her chicken, “hoe cakes” (a form of cornbread), griddle cakes, and waffles.4 One particularly exciting moment in Howard’s White House career came in 1914, when she eloped with neighboring stonemason William Clements. She left the White House after her marriage.5 Howard went on to work for President Wilson’s physician, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, that same year.6 Further documentation about her life is scarce.
  1. United States Census Bureau, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Washington, D.C., Ward 1, District 32, sheet 1, Alice Howard, digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4119674_00424?usePUB=true&_phsrc=pzr189&pId=33889540.
  2. Adrian Miller, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 107; Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 12, 1914, 3, "Wedding Bells Ringing for White House Bride: This Time It Is Assistant Cook and She Keeps Her Plans Secret, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332083096/?match=1&terms="Alice Howard".
  3. Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 12, 1914, 3, "Wedding Bells Ringing for White House Bride: This Time It Is Assistant Cook and She Keeps Her Plans Secret, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332083096/?match=1&terms="Alice Howard".
  4. Adrian Miller, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 107.
  5. Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 12, 1914, 3, "Wedding Bells Ringing for White House Bride: This Time It Is Assistant Cook and She Keeps Her Plans Secret, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332083096/?match=1&terms="Alice Howard".
  6. Adrian Miller, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 107.
Birthplace
West Virginia, USA
Unclear from Context
Related Association Content
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/712-jackson-place